• U.S. Accuses Foreign Actors of Inflaming Tensions over Floyd Killing

    U.S. adversaries are starting to weaponize protests that have gripped parts of the country “to sow divisiveness and discord,” according to top law enforcement officials who refused to share additional details. The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI allege that unnamed countries are actively manipulating information to make the situation in the United States worse.

  • Cybercriminals Are Now Targeting Critical Electricity Infrastructure

    Amid the constant stream of news on the coronavirus pandemic, one event passed relatively unnoticed. On the afternoon of May 14, a company named Elexon was hacked. You probably haven’t heard of it, but Elexon plays a key role in the UK’s electricity market, and though the attack did not affect the electricity supply itself, as an academic who researches cybersecurity in the electricity system, I am worried. This near miss reveals just how vulnerable our critical infrastructure is to such attacks – especially during a pandemic.

  • Thwarting DDoS Technique that Threatened Large-Scale Cyberattack

    Researchers have developed a technique that could allow a relatively small number of computers to carry out DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks on a massive scale, overwhelming targets with false requests for information until they were thrown offline. The attack exploits vulnerabilities in the Domain Name System or DNS. The researchers alerted a broad collection of companies responsible for the internet’s infrastructure to their findings.

  • Twitter Suspends Fake Antifa Account Created by White Nationalists to Incite Violence

    Twitter suspended a fake account, created by white nationalist group Identity Evropa, which pretended to be affiliated with Black Lives Matter and incited violence. The account called upon African American participants in the protests to use violence against law enforcement and places of business. “Tonight’s the night, Comrades,” one tweet had said, before encouraging users to “take what’s ours.”

  • Virality Project (US): Marketing Meets Misinformation

    Pseudoscience and government conspiracy theories swirl on social media, though most of them stay largely confined to niche communities. In the case of COVID-19, however, a combination of anger at what some see as overly restrictive government policies, conflicting information about treatments and disease spread, and anxiety about the future has many people searching for facts…and finding misinformation. This dynamic creates an opportunity for determined people and skilled marketers to fill the void - to create content and produce messages designed to be shared widely.

  • IoT: Which Devices Are Spying on You?

    When hungry consumers want to know how many calories are in a bag of chips, they can check the nutrition label on the bag. When those same consumers want to check the security and privacy practices of a new IoT device, they aren’t able to find even the most basic facts. Not yet, at least.

  • Users Rarely Change Passwords after a Breach – or They Choose a Weaker Password

    Have you been pwned? In other words, have any of your username / password combinations been stolen during any of the many data breaches in recent years? Chances are, they probably have, and it’s also likely you didn’t take the proper precaution of changing your password to a more secure one. That’s not necessarily your fault.

  • White Supremacist Groups Thriving on Facebook

    Dozens of white supremacist groups are operating freely on Facebook, allowing them to spread their message and recruit new members. The findings, more than two years after Facebook hosted an event page for the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, cast doubt on the company’s claims that it’s effectively monitoring and dealing with hate groups. What’s more, Facebook’s algorithms create an echo chamber that reinforces the views of white supremacists and helps them connect with each other.

  • Social Media Platforms Can Contribute to Dehumanizing Other People

    A recent analysis of discourse on Facebook highlights how social media and an individual’s sense of identity can be used to dehumanize entire groups of people. “Fundamentally, we wanted to examine how online platforms can normalize hatred and contribute to dehumanization,” says one researcher. “And we found that an established model of the role identity plays in intractable conflicts seems to explain a great deal of this behavior.”

  • U.S.-Funded Website Spreading COVID Misinformation in Armenia

    U.S. taxpayer money has funded a controversial health news website in Armenia that is spreading “incredibly dangerous” COVID-19 misinformation. Public health experts in the U.S. and Armenia denounced this content – which includes claims that vaccines currently being developed are actually “biological weapons.”

  • Facebook Knew Its Algorithms Promoted Extremist Groups, but Did Nothing: Report

    A Facebook Inc. team had a blunt message for senior executives. The company’s algorithms weren’t bringing people together. They were driving people apart. “Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness,” read a slide from a 2018 presentation. “If left unchecked,” it warned, Facebook would feed users “more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention & increase time on platform.” The Wall Street Journal reports that the main reason behind Facebook’s decision to do nothing was the fear that any content moderation measures would disproportionately affect right-wing pages, politicians, and other parts of the user base that drove up engagement. The company also wanted to stave off accusations of bias against conservative posters.

  • U.K. Set to Reverse Huawei Decision

    In a dramatic turnaround, the British government will in a few days announce that it was reversing its decision earlier this year to allow Huawei to provide components for Britain’s 5G communication infrastructure. In January, the government said it would push for a deal which would allow Huawei to supply up to 35 percent of the components of the new 5G network, and that these components would be allowed only on the “edge” of the networks, not the networks’ “core.” The government is now set to announce that Huawei’s components will not be allowed in the U.K. 5G networks, and that all of the Chinese company’s gear will be removed from older communication networks by the end of 1922. The government’s January deal would probably have failed to gain approval in parliament, as Conservative backbenchers who oppose the January deal now have more than enough votes to block it.

  • Protecting the 2020 Presidential Election

    In 2019 the federal government appropriated for states $425 million, following the $380 million provided to states at the beginning of 2018, with both outlays aiming to help states prevent a repeat of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Then the coronavirus pandemic came ashore, leading states to use previously appropriated election security funds for coronavirus-related election expenses. This is a problem: the U.S. election infrastructure is not yet fully secure, while America’s adversaries continue to augment their technical election-interference capabilities.

  • The Dark Arts of Disinformation Through a Historical Lens

    History matters because sometimes it repeats itself. In his pioneering analysis of modern disinformation warfare from a historical perspective, Thomas Rid posits from the outset that “only by taking careful and accurate measure of the fantastic past of disinformation can we comprehend the present, and fix the future.”

  • Sharing Personal Information on Social Media Is Risky

    An innocent, seemingly fun and engaging social media trend has been popping up on news feeds. In an act of solidarity with high school seniors who were finishing out their final semester at home due to the coronavirus stay-at-home order, Facebook users were sharing their own senior class photos in nostalgic posts. While it is a nice sentiment and the presence of cameras in nearly every cellphone has made it easy to take and exchange pictures, there are certain security considerations one should keep in mind.