US intelligence report warns of increased offensive cyber, disinformation around the world

Over the course of the next 20 years, nation-states will see a rise in targeted offensive cyber-operations and disinformation in an increasingly “volatile and confrontational” global security landscape, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment. The U.S. intelligence community’s Global Trends report, issued on Thursday, notes many of theses offensive cyber-operations will likely target civilian and military infrastructure. Nation-states will likely increasingly favor tools that allow them to operate below the level of armed conflict in order to avoid the geopolitical and resource costs that come with violence and traditional warfare, the report adds. Countries also will leverage proxies such as hackers or military contractors to disrupt their adversaries, according to the assessment, which is issued by the National Intelligence Council, which reports to the Director of National Intelligence. “Proxies and private companies can reduce the cost of training, equipping, and retaining specialized units and provide manpower for countries with […]

The post US intelligence report warns of increased offensive cyber, disinformation around the world appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading US intelligence report warns of increased offensive cyber, disinformation around the world

The “Russia Small Group” – A Step in the Right Direction or a Dangerous Game to Play With?

It has recently came clear that the U.S DoD in direct cooperation with the NSA have been busy working on the so called “Russia Small Group” which aims to analyze and properly respond to the growing threat of foreign influence operations launched and co… Continue reading The “Russia Small Group” – A Step in the Right Direction or a Dangerous Game to Play With?

DoD’s Cyber Strategy for 2018 – An Analysis

Going through the latest DoD Cyber Strategy for 2018 it should be clearly noted that several key new developments are continuing to take place which are worth discussing in the broader context of real-time cyber threat intelligence cyber attack attribu… Continue reading DoD’s Cyber Strategy for 2018 – An Analysis

Senator hammers Facebook, Instagram over COVID-19 misinformation

One day after a House panel grilled social media executives about misinformation on their platforms, a top senator blasted Facebook for its “continued amplification of harmful” posts about COVID-19, especially via Facebook-owned Instagram. Senate Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, saying the company needed to do more to eradicate misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine than promising action. “Facebook’s enforcement of its own policies is consistently and demonstrably insufficient, a trend we have seen in other areas where Facebook has pledged to address misuse of its products or instances of its products amplifying harmful content,” Warner said in the letter. Warner juxtaposed Facebook’s February update of its policies on medical misinformation with the fact that on the day it announced them, some of the top search results for “COVID vaccine” on Instagram lead to anti-vaccine accounts. In particular, Warner said he was disturbed by a […]

The post Senator hammers Facebook, Instagram over COVID-19 misinformation appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Senator hammers Facebook, Instagram over COVID-19 misinformation

State prosecutors push Facebook, Twitter to do more to slow virus misinformation

A group of 12 state attorneys general sent a letter on Wednesday to Facebook and Twitter urging them to do more to curtail vaccine misinformation on their platforms. “Misinformation disseminated via your platforms has increased vaccine hesitancy, which will slow economic recovery and, more importantly, ultimately cause even more unnecessary deaths,” the group of attorneys general state in the letter. The letter sent to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Wednesday is signed by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. They note that purveyors of vaccine misinformation have often targeted Black Americans, “members of communities who have suffered the worst health impacts of the virus and whose vaccination rates are lagging.” Bad actors and grifters have been spreading misinformation about vaccines on social media, including on Facebook and Twitter, for years. Some of […]

The post State prosecutors push Facebook, Twitter to do more to slow virus misinformation appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading State prosecutors push Facebook, Twitter to do more to slow virus misinformation

FBI alert warns of Russian, Chinese use of deepfake content

The FBI warned in an alert Wednesday that malicious actors “almost certainly” will be using deepfakes to advance their influence or cyber-operations in the coming weeks. The alert notes that foreign actors are already using deepfakes or synthetic media — manipulated digital content like video, audio, images and text — in their influence campaigns. “Foreign actors are currently using synthetic content in their influence campaigns, and the FBI anticipates it will be increasingly used by foreign and criminal cyber actors for spearphishing and social engineering in an evolution of cyber operational tradecraft,” states the alert obtained by CyberScoop. The warning comes amid concern that if manipulated media is allowed to proliferate unabated, conspiracy theories and maligned influence will become more and more mainstream. Lawmakers have recently enacted a series of laws that address deepfake technology, which frequently is used to harass women. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2021, for […]

The post FBI alert warns of Russian, Chinese use of deepfake content appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading FBI alert warns of Russian, Chinese use of deepfake content

Far-right misinformation on Facebook outranks real news

Far-right misinformation shared on Facebook surrounding the 2020 presidential election received more engagement than real news, according to research published by New York University Wednesday. “Far-right sources designated as spreaders of misinformation had an average of 426 interactions per thousand followers per week, while non-misinformation sources had an average of 259 weekly interactions per thousand followers,” the researchers said in a blog post on their findings. Overall, misinformation authors on the far right received 65% more engagement per follower than other pages, according to the research. Real news was more popular than misinformation in every other partisan news category examined, according to the study — for the slightly right, center, slightly left and far left, real news outranked misinformation on Facebook. Misinformation outranked real news only on the far right, according to the research. The NYU researchers analyzed posts between August 10 of last year and January 11 of this […]

The post Far-right misinformation on Facebook outranks real news appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Far-right misinformation on Facebook outranks real news

Twitter scrubs accounts tied to Russian, Iranian influence operations

Twitter has taken action against a slew of state-linked influence operations run from Russia, Iran and Armenia in recent days, the company announced Tuesday. One Russian influence operation, believed to be run by state actors, shared information that aligned with the Russian government’s goals and which sought to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to a Twitter blog post. Another Russian campaign appears to have links with the government-run troll farm that interfered in the 2016 presidential elections in the U.S. The takedown of these efforts in recent days is emblematic of a pernicious threat that social media companies face in trying to establish ground truth on their platforms. Twitter has been working for years to oust manipulative influence operations from its platform, and while it has seen some success, it continuously runs into repeat offenders who spread disinformation, including in the case of the Kremlin-linked troll farm known […]

The post Twitter scrubs accounts tied to Russian, Iranian influence operations appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Twitter scrubs accounts tied to Russian, Iranian influence operations

Misinformation flooded Parler around Capitol insurrection, research finds

The overwhelming majority of news links shared on Parler in the days surrounding the Capitol insurrection last month were filled with misinformation, according to an analysis by NewsGuard and PeakMetrics. In all, 87% of news links shared on Parler around the Jan. 6 riots contained misinformation, the analysis published Wednesday concluded.  One of the most popular sites shared across the social networking platform was a site that appeared to be an American news outlet, called American Conservatives Today, but which actually was run from North Macedonia and plagiarized stories from The Gateway Pundit. The site, which was created in December of last year, spread lies that the voting equipment maker Dominion Voting Systems was switching votes from then-President Donald Trump to then-candidate Joe Biden. Other popular misinformation-based sites that spread falsehoods on Parler included a video website linked with Alex Jones, InfoWars.com’s founder, which spread lies that Biden was interested […]

The post Misinformation flooded Parler around Capitol insurrection, research finds appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Misinformation flooded Parler around Capitol insurrection, research finds

Pro-China influence campaign claiming ‘hypocrisy’ of American democracy gains traction

A clumsy social media influence operation that aligns itself with Chinese government interests has started gaining traction online, according to Graphika research published Thursday. Social media activity associated with the campaign, known as Spamouflage Dragon, has typically failed to attract many eyeballs. Some recent tweets, though, have attracted attention from Chinese diplomats, prominent politicians in Venezuela and Pakistan, a senior figure at Huawei Europe and a commentator in the U.K. The campaign’s YouTube following has grown as well in recent months, according to the social media analysis firm Graphika. Spamouflage Dragon, a cross-platform social media influence campaign, has been working for years to spread pro-Chinese government propaganda online, is one of many influence operations that seizes on news of the day to peddle its narratives. While it appears to have significant resourcing, it has largely failed to gain amplification due to its overtly spammy behavior and rudimentary execution. Many of […]

The post Pro-China influence campaign claiming ‘hypocrisy’ of American democracy gains traction appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Pro-China influence campaign claiming ‘hypocrisy’ of American democracy gains traction