• Cultivating Media Literacy in the Age of Deepfakes

    People turn to digital media for news at high rates, but at the same time algorithms for manipulating media continue to grow more powerful. Online course from the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality seeks to empower students and educators to critically engage with media.

  • New Cybersecurity Advisory: Protecting Cleared Defense Contractor Networks Against Russian Hackers

    Over the last two years, CISA, FBI and NSA continue observing regular targeting of both large and small Cleared Defense Contractors and subcontractors. Agencies strongly encourage organizations to apply recommended mitigation steps to reduce risk of compromise.

  • Possible Russian Cyberattacks Could Reverberate Globally: U.S., Allies

    The United States and its Western allies are bracing for the possibility that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would have a ripple effect in cyberspace, even if Western entities are not initially the intended target.

  • The Three Leading Cyber Risks: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Fake News

    The risks associated with misleading information can have a profoundly negative impact. A study aims to provide recommendations on responding to the new digital age challenges.

  • New Cybersecurity Advisory: Protecting Cleared Defense Contractor Networks Against Russian Hackers

    Over the last two years, CISA, FBI and NSA continue observing regular targeting of both large and small Cleared Defense Contractors and subcontractors. Agencies strongly encourage organizations to apply recommended mitigation steps to reduce risk of compromise.

  • Getting Better at Telling Misinformation from Reliable Expert Consensus

    Psychology researchers have shown how to better communicate key messages and avoid misinformation.

  • China Suspected of Targeting U.S. Organizations with Cyberattacks

    Media giant News Corp is investigating a cyberattack that has accessed the email and documents of some of its employees and journalists. “Mandiant assesses that those behind this activity have a China nexus, and we believe they are likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests,” Dave Wong, Mandiant vice president and incident responder, said.

  • CISA Supports Inaugural U.S. Cyber Games

    CISA last week announces its founding sponsorship of the first-ever US Cyber Team, which will compete, as part of the US Cyber Games, in the International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC) June 14-17, 2022 in Athens, Greece. “Cyber competitions are a fundamental element of developing the next generation of cybersecurity talent. Games help motivate the future workforce, and keep the current workforce sharp, maintaining a thriving community of cybersecurity professionals,” noted CISA Director Jen Easterly.

  • The U.S. Warning of a Fake Russian Video Isn’t Alex Jones Territory

    The U.S. claim that Russia was planning to release a fake film showing a Ukrainian attack, which the Kremlin would then use to justify further invading the country. The accusation is consistent with Russia’s current disinformation campaigns and its past use of fabricated evidence. Calling out the potential fake video also limits Moscow’s ability to credibly rationalize war based on similar lies.

  • Africa embraces Huawei technology despite security concerns

    Shunned in the Global North due to privacy and security issues, Huawei is a front-runner in Africa. But the Chinese giant’s data collection methods may also appeal to authoritarian regimes as a way to cling to power.

  • Blocking Microgrid Cyberattacks to Keep Power Flowing

    Detection methods that identify the weaknesses in smart power grids will prevent cyberattacks from disrupting supply to critical infrastructure.

  • U.S. Mired in “Heightened Threat Environment”: DHS

    DHS, in its updated National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin released Monday, says that the prevalence of conspiracy theories and bad or misleading information, online and in social media forums, is keeping the United States in a state of heightened alert when it comes to possible terror attacks. DHS warns that while many of the top threat streams have changed little over the past year, almost all of them are being amplified by the information environment.

  • Battling Disinformation

    Counterspeech is a strategy to oppose hate speech and falsehoods online. It works by flooding a post that is hateful or misleading with comments that are positive or that reinforce the facts. Citizens are the drivers of counterspeech and can even form special groups to coordinate their efforts.

  • NSA Releases 2021 Cybersecurity Year in Review

    The NSA last week released its 2021 NSA Cybersecurity Year in Review which highlights how the agency continues to address threats to the U.S. most critical systems.

  • Broad, and Likely Unauthorized, Use of Pegasus Spyware by Israel's Police Shocks Israel

    Since 2015, Israel’s police has employed the intrusive Pegasus spyware to spy on businesspeople, journalists and editors, senior managers of government ministries and agencies, leaders of protest movements, and more – and it appears that in many, if not most, of these cases, the spying was done without judicial approval or after judges were misled by the police about the nature of the monitoring technology. The Pegasus software has been used by authoritarian governments around the world to spy on political opponents, human rights activist, journalists – and in at least one case, to spy on U.S. diplomats. The U.S. has blacklisted the Israeli company NSO, Pegasus maker, and American companies are not allowed to sell their technology to NSO or do business with it