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Is DOGE a Cybersecurity Threat? Explaining the Dangers of Violating Protocols and Regulations That Protect Government Computer Systems
Teams from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are dropping into federal agencies with a practically unlimited mandate to reform the federal government in accordance with recent executive orders. As a 30-year cybersecurity veteran, I find the activities of DOGE thus far concerning. Its broad mandate across government, seemingly nonexistent oversight, and the apparent lack of operational competence of its employees have demonstrated that DOGE could create conditions that are ideal for cybersecurity or data privacy incidents that affect the entire nation.
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Researchers Calculate Cyberattack Risk for All 50 States
Local governments are common victims of cyberattack, with economic damage often extending to the state and federal levels. Scholars aggregate threats to thousands of county governments to draw conclusions.
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Trump Inviting Influencers to White House Press Briefings Is Likely to Usher in a New Era of Fake News
The steady rise in prominence of partisan influencers using increasingly dangerous language is only likely to lead to the American public having less faith in the institutions that are critical to a functioning democracy –the press included.
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Security Vulnerabilities Discovered in Apple Processors
The US tech giant Apple has always advertised security assurances alongside ever faster processor performance for its products. Now an international team of cybersecurity researchers has discovered at least two security vulnerabilities.
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In Times of Crisis, States Have Few Tools to Fight Misinformation
While officials in Southern California fought fire and falsehoods, Meta —the parent company of Facebook and Instagram —announced it would eliminate its fact-checking program in the name of free expression. As social media companies are pushing back against efforts to crack down on falsehoods, questions are asked about what, if anything, state governments can do to stop the spread of harmful lies and rumors that proliferate on social media.
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Fighting Deepfakes: What’s Next After legislation?
Deepfake technology is weaponizing artificial intelligence in a way that disproportionately targets women, especially those working public roles, compromising their dignity, safety, and ability to participate in public life.
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Treasury Sanctions Company, Hacker Associated with Salt Typhoon
The Department of the Treasury has sanctioned a Chinese national and a Chinese company for their direct involvement in the Salt Typhoon cyber group, which recently compromised the network infrastructure of multiple major U.S. telecommunication and internet service provider companies.
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Climate Misinformation Is Rife on Social Media – and Poised to Get Worse
The decision by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to end its fact-checking program and otherwise reduce content moderation would open the floodgates to more climate misinformation on Meta’s apps, including misleading or out-of-context claims during disasters. Crowd-sourced debunking is no match for organized disinformation campaigns in the midst of information vacuums during a crisis. The conditions for the rapid and unchecked spread of misleading, and outright false, content could get worse with Meta’s content moderation policy and algorithmic changes.
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The World's Top Global Risk Is Misinformation and Disinformation: World Economic Forum
Mis- and disinformation have once again been named the top global risk of the immediate term in the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025. Disinformation is deeply insidious, destructive and rapidly evolving. It often comes hand-in-hand with its less malicious but equally destructive cousin, misinformation.
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The Dynamics That Polarize Us on Social Media Are About to Get Worse
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced Facebook, Instagram and Threads, instead of relying on independent third-party factcheckers, will now emulate Elon Musk’s X in using “community notes.”But research shows that political polarization prevents community fact-checking from even occurring – and, what is worse, community-notes systems are vulnerable to manipulation by well organized groups, and foreign governments, with political agendas.
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What Meta’s Move to Community Moderation Could Mean for Misinformation
Achieving the right balance between protecting free speech and ensuring the integrity of information is a complex challenge. Meta’s shift from professional factchecking to crowdsourced community moderation risks undermining this balance by amplifying the spread of disinformation and hateful speech. Free expression without proper safeguards can enable the unchecked proliferation of harmful content, including conspiracy theories, hate speech and medical misinformation.
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Meta to Move Content Moderators to Texas as Part of Plan to End Fact-Checking Program
The tech giant’s decision to end the program comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeks to mend ties with the incoming Trump administration.
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Cartels Turn to Social Media to Lure Americans into Human Smuggling as Texas Enforces Stricter Laws
Thousands of people have been arrested under Texas’ human smuggling law. Now they face at least a decade in prison under sentencing guidelines that took effect this year.
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Five Cybersecurity Tips to Protect Yourself from Scams and Deepfakes
In an age where misinformation and deepfakes blur the lines between fact and fiction, identifying scams has never been more challenging. Cybersecurity experts share their top tips to help you protect yourself and your loved ones from scams and identity theft.
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Keep the U.S. Government Focused on Combating Foreign Interference Operations
Countering foreign interference requires concerted policy efforts to raise the costs for adversaries. Harnessing military and intelligence capabilities to push back forcefully must be part of policy discussions to address foreign interference.
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The long view
What Does Netflix’s Drama “Adolescence” Tell Us About Incels and the Manosphere?
While Netflix’s psychological crime drama ‘Adolescence’ is a work of fiction, its themes offer insight into the very real and troubling rise of the incel and manosphere culture online.
Confronting Core Problems in Cybersecurity
It’s common for governors and mayors to declare a state of emergency and activate the National Guard in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. But last month, officials in Minnesota took these steps in the wake of a major cyberattack on the city of St. Paul —a testament to how disruptive these attacks have become.
Voting from Your Sofa Is Secure Enough – but Will It Be Allowed?
A new electronic voting system developed at NTNU can withstand attacks from quantum computers, meaning digital elections can be conducted securely, even in the future.