Category Archives: Joe Biden

Facebook, Twitter aim to slow spread of New York Post article amid disinformation concerns

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Social media companies are moving to limit the spread of an article that fits the description of the kind of political dirt that disinformation specialists have predicted would surface in the weeks before Election Day. An Oct. 14 New York Post story which purportedly shows evidence that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had engaged in some kind of political corruption during his time as vice president was immediately criticized by a range of academics and security practitioners who, for months, have advised the media to be cautious with any salacious materials that allegedly had been leaked prior to Nov. 3. The article from the right-leaning Post reports that Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, had sought to introduce his father to a Ukrainian businessman, citing emails that were allegedly left at a Delaware computer repair shop and provided to an attorney for Rudy Giuliani, a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team. Facebook said […]

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Facebook removes fake accounts it linked to Turning Point USA

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Facebook said it removed hundreds of fake accounts and pages on Thursday that had denigrated Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden while boosting GOP President Donald Trump. The company also said it had banned a marketing agency as part of the influence operation that it linked to prominent, youth-driven conservative organization Turning Point USA. The marketing firm, Rally Forge, also worked to undermine mail-in voting with comments on news stories posted to its platform, Facebook said. In all, the social media giant took down 200 Facebook accounts and 55 pages, as well as 76 Instagram accounts. The removal is a reminder that, with just weeks before Election Day, social media companies still are contending with the deliberate spread of misinformation from both foreign and domestic sources. Facebook in recent months has taken action against networks of white supremacists, and alleged Russian propagandists, among other networks. Other Silicon Valley firms, such as Twitter, also have taken […]

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Twitter says FBI tip prompted takedown of 130 fake accounts during debate

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Intelligence from the FBI prompted Twitter to take down roughly 130 accounts that “appeared to originate in Iran,” and were trying to generate conflict during the presidential debate Tuesday, the social media company reported. In its announcement Wednesday, Twitter did not offer more details about the origin of the accounts or the extent of the FBI’s tip, but said it would publish the results of its full investigation later. The takedowns are the latest in a series of announcements from U.S. social media giants about their efforts to block foreign information operations and other inauthentic behavior ahead of the 2020 elections. Russia, China and Iran are considered to be the primary sources of such activity, each with its own distinct set of interests. Federal officials have said Iran generally seeks to increase divisions in the U.S. electorate. An operation that spread racist disinformation about coronavirus vaccine tests during the summer resembled the behavior of an Iran-linked group that security researchers called Endless Mayfly. Twitter’s security […]

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Microsoft Warns of Cyberattacks on Trump, Biden Election Campaigns

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Just months before the U.S. presidential election, hackers from Russia, China and Iran are ramping up phishing and malware attacks against campaign staffers. Continue reading Microsoft Warns of Cyberattacks on Trump, Biden Election Campaigns→

State-backed hackers targeted Biden and Trump campaign associates, Microsoft says

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Hackers linked with the Chinese government tried to breach associates of the Joe Biden campaign, while hackers with reported connections to the Iranian government targeted President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, Microsoft warned Thursday. In addition, the same Russian military hackers that interfered in the 2016 election targeted a range of political and policy consultants in the U.S. and Europe, the software giant said. The hacking attempts against the Biden and Trump campaigns were unsuccessful, Microsoft said, but they offered another example of foreign espionage efforts weeks before the presidential election. “We have directly notified those who were targeted or compromised so they can take action to protect themselves,” Tom Burt, a Microsoft corporate vice president, wrote in a blog post. “The activity we are announcing today makes clear that foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated, and is consistent with what the U.S. government and others […]

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Trump administration urged to sanction Russian individuals and groups for election meddling

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A group of Democratic senators is urging the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on those involved in efforts to interfere in the 2020 elections so far, including those from Russia. “We write to urge you immediately to impose sanctions on individuals, entities and governmental actors seeking to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections,” the 11 lawmakers, including Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, wrote in a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “Congress mandated a broad range of sanctions tools, and it is long past time for the administration to send a direct message to President Putin: the U.S. will respond immediately and forcefully to continuing election interference by the government of the Russian Federation and its surrogates, to punish, deter and substantially increase the economic and political costs of such interference.” The U.S. intelligence community has assessed Russia is currently working to “publicly denigrate” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, according to a statement the Office […]

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Trump administration urged to sanction Russian individuals and groups for election meddling

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A group of Democratic senators is urging the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on those involved in efforts to interfere in the 2020 elections so far, including those from Russia. “We write to urge you immediately to impose sanctions on individuals, entities and governmental actors seeking to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections,” the 11 lawmakers, including Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, wrote in a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “Congress mandated a broad range of sanctions tools, and it is long past time for the administration to send a direct message to President Putin: the U.S. will respond immediately and forcefully to continuing election interference by the government of the Russian Federation and its surrogates, to punish, deter and substantially increase the economic and political costs of such interference.” The U.S. intelligence community has assessed Russia is currently working to “publicly denigrate” Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, according to a statement the Office […]

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China doesn’t want Trump re-elected; Russia is denigrating Biden, US intel official says

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China prefers that President Donald Trump not win a second term, while Russia is working to denigrate presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday in an unusually direct statement on election interference. The Chinese government has “expanded its influence efforts” ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, and grown increasingly critical of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus and its closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, said William Evanina, head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Moscow, meanwhile, has used “a range of measures” to try to sully Biden’s candidacy, Evanina said, in line with Russia’s criticism of Biden when he was vice president. “Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media and Russian television,” Evanina said. The Iranian government, for its part, has looked to undermine U.S. institutions and Trump, and sow divisions among […]

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Twitter: Epic Account Hack Caused by Mobile Spearphishing

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Hackers “mislead certain employees” to gain access to internal tools to take over high-profile accounts and push out a Bitcoin scam. Continue reading Twitter: Epic Account Hack Caused by Mobile Spearphishing→