An anonymous reader quotes a report from Forbes: The security research team at Comparitech today disclosed how an unsecured database left almost 235 million Instagram, TikTok and YouTube user profiles exposed online in what can only be described as a massive data leak. The data was spread across several datasets; the most significant being two coming in at just under 100…
Tag: campaigns
Safest Voting Method Is Using Paper, Leading Cyber Expert Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Election voting is the cybersecurity industry’s most difficult challenge, and casting ballots on paper is the safest option against any digital disruptions, saysCrowdStrikeHoldings co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer Dmitri Alperovitch. “Voting is the hardest thing to secure when it comes to cybersecurity,” Alperovitch said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The…
A Simple Telephony Honeypot Received 1.5 Million Robocalls Across 11 Months
An anonymous reader shares a report: In an award-winning paper presented at the USENIX security conference this week, a team of academics from North Carolina State University presented a list of findings from operating a massive telephony honeypot for 11 months for the sole purpose of tracking, identifying, and analyzing the robocalling phenomenon in the US. NCSU researchers said they ran…
US Says It Seized Cryptocurrency From Three Terrorist Groups
The Trump administration dismantled digital campaigns by al-Qaeda and other other terrorist groups that used social media to obtain cryptocurrency for carrying out terrorist attacks, the Justice Department said on Thursday. From a report: The U.S. seized millions of dollars and more than 300 cryptocurrency accounts used by al-Qaeda; Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades; and the Islamic State of Iraq…
Hackers Could Use IoT Botnets To Manipulate Energy Markets
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: At the Black Hat security conference on Wednesday, [researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology] will present their findings, which suggest that high-wattage IoT botnets — made up of power-guzzling devices like air conditioners, car chargers, and smart thermostats — could be deployed strategically to increase demand at certain times in any of…
AI-Generated Text Is the Scariest Deepfake of All
An anonymous reader shares a report: In the future, deepfake videos and audiofakes may well be used to create distinct, sensational moments that commandeer a press cycle, or to distract from some other, more organic scandal. But undetectable textfakes — masked as regular chatter on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and the like — have the potential to be far more subtle, far…
DOD, FBI, DHS Release Info on Malware Used in Chinese Government-Led Hacking Campaigns
The U.S. government today publicly exposed malware used in Chinese government hacking efforts for more than a decade. From a report: The Chinese government has been using malware, referred to as Taidoor, to target government agencies, entities in the private sector, and think tanks since 2008, according to a joint announcement from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security…
Trump and Biden Attack Social Media – By Running Ads on Social Media
In 100 days the U.S. will vote on whether Donald Trump, Joe Biden or somebody else should be America’s president. But both candidates are also running political ads attacking social media — on social media. “They’re shooting the messenger while giving it lots of money,” reports the Associated Press: Biden has focused on Facebook, with a #MoveFastFixIt campaign that admonishes Facebook…
Trump Campaign Angry That Cell Carriers Blocked Company Texts To Voters
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: President Trump’s re-election campaign has accused Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile of “suppression of political speech” over the carriers’ blocking of spam texts sent by the campaign. The fight was described Wednesday in an in-depth article by Business Insider and other reports. “The Trump campaign has been battling this month with the biggest…
Hoax That Fooled Armed Protesters Was Created By a Socialist Troll on Food Stamps
Remember that anonymous online hoaxster who urged hundreds of armed protesters to counter a non-existent flag-burning event at America’s historic Civil War battefield at Gettysburg? An investigation by the Washington Post reveals that the hoaxster had in fact been a “lifelong Democrat” before instead registering in 2015 with the Socialist Party — and that he now collects food stamps:
Adam Rahuba, a…