Category Archives: nathaniel gleicher

China-based hackers used front companies to hack Uighurs, Facebook says

Posted on by

Facebook on Wednesday exposed what it said was a long-running hacking campaign targeting Uighurs living around the world and supported by Chinese technology firms. The scheme was aimed at journalists and dissidents, and affected Uighurs living in places like as far-flung as U.S., Turkey and Australia. It involved fake Facebook personas duping targets into clicking on links, as well as malicious Android and iOS software, Facebook said. Facebook said it’s aware of less than 500 people whom the campaign targeted. Facebook’s investigators traced the Android malware developers in the hacking campaign to Chinese firms Beijing Best United Technology and Dalian 9Rush Technology. Neither could be reached for comment on Wednesday. China has a history of allegedly using front companies as cover for its hacking operations. The hacking campaign began as far as back as 2019, and Facebook executives said they expected the attackers to continue their spying efforts. It’s only […]

The post China-based hackers used front companies to hack Uighurs, Facebook says appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading China-based hackers used front companies to hack Uighurs, Facebook says→

Why the US was so fast to blame Iran for voter intimidation emails in Florida

Posted on by

By trying to quickly resolve concerns about an apparent Iranian influence operation, and bolster Americans’ confidence the country’s electoral process, U.S. officials have sparked an entirely new set of questions: Why were they able to connect Iran to the attack so quickly, and how? During a briefing announced to reporters 10 minutes before it began Wednesday, John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, said the U.S. government had determined Iran was behind an email campaign meant to intimidate American voters. Neither Ratcliffe nor FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was also at the briefing, provided any technical evidence to support the allegation that the emails, purported to be sent by the Proud Boys as threats to Democratic voters in Florida to vote for President Donald Trump, in fact were sent by Iranian attackers. The disclosure came quickly after Motherboard on Tuesday reported on a surge of suspicious emails that seemed to use technical means to try to hide their […]

The post Why the US was so fast to blame Iran for voter intimidation emails in Florida appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Why the US was so fast to blame Iran for voter intimidation emails in Florida→

How hackers took over Facebook accounts to steal $4 million, promote scams

Posted on by

Facebook has fended off plenty of phony, pill-pushing ad campaigns over the years, but the company disrupted one effort last year that was particularly pernicious, and effective. Hackers defrauded Facebook users out of more than $4 million in a scheme that security staffers have connected to a cybercrime network in China. The details, revealed Thursday, demonstrate how attackers breached hundreds of thousands of Facebook accounts, scouring for users with payment methods attached to their profile, such as PayPal. The attackers would disable users’ notifications, and abuse their access to the victim account to place advertisements for diet pills and counterfeit products. The hackers delivered their malware, dubbed SilentFade, through web browsers, rather than Facebook itself, making it more difficult to detect and root out. “We anticipate more platform-specific malware to appear for platforms serving large and growing audiences, as the evolving ecosystem targeting Facebook demonstrates,” Facebook researchers Sanchit Karve and Jennifer Urgilez wrote in a […]

The post How hackers took over Facebook accounts to steal $4 million, promote scams appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading How hackers took over Facebook accounts to steal $4 million, promote scams→

Fake news Facebook accounts used coronavirus to attract followers

Posted on by

In April, the company yanked 1,887 misleading accounts, pages and groups tied to eight influencer networks building fake engagement.

Continue reading Fake news Facebook accounts used coronavirus to attract followers→

Facebook pulls fake news networks linked to Russia and Iran

Posted on by

It took down four foreign interference campaigns and announced initiatives to prevent foreign interference in US elections.

Continue reading Facebook pulls fake news networks linked to Russia and Iran→

Middle East-linked social media accounts impersonated U.S. candidates before 2018 elections

Posted on by

Social media users with ties to Iran are shifting their disinformation efforts by imitating real people, including U.S. congressional candidates, according to research published Tuesday. FireEye’s Threat Intelligence team said it had uncovered Twitter accounts that impersonated Republican congressional candidates in the buildup to the 2018 midterm elections, posting on politics and other topics. In some cases, FireEye suspects the actors were also able to have materials published in U.S. and Israeli media outlets. In a related announcement Tuesday, Facebook announced a takedown of fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram emanating from Iran that appeared to focus on outreach to policymakers. Facebook said the accounts and linked personas at times imitated legitimate news organizations in the Middle East and at other times purported to be journalists. Neither company attributed the information operations directly to the Iranian government, though FireEye said the actors appeared to be advocating for Iranian interests while Facebook and Twitter both […]

The post Middle East-linked social media accounts impersonated U.S. candidates before 2018 elections appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Middle East-linked social media accounts impersonated U.S. candidates before 2018 elections→

Facebook takes down Russian-linked disinformation targeting Ukraine

Posted on by

In its latest effort to root out disinformation on its platform, Facebook announced it is taking down 97 pages, groups, and accounts emanating from Russia and targeting Ukraine that attempted to conceal who was behind them. Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy Nathaniel Gleicher clarified that Facebook was taking them down because of their manipulative behavior and not due to the content they were posting. The groups, accounts, and pages posted primarily about political topics of local concern in Ukraine, such as the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the conflict in Syria, Russian politics, and European politics, Gleicher said in a blog post. The actors used fake accounts to disseminate information and also worked to redirect users to an external site that posted on similar topics. In one case up to 34,000 users followed a page coordinating disinformation, and in another, up to 86,000 accounts joined one of the groups. Ben Nimmo, who […]

The post Facebook takes down Russian-linked disinformation targeting Ukraine appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Facebook takes down Russian-linked disinformation targeting Ukraine→

Facebook hires first ever head of cybersecurity policy

Posted on by

Facebook has hired its first ever director of cybersecurity policy, CyberScoop has learned. The social media titan hired Nathaniel Gleicher, a former cybersecurity director in the White House during the Obama administration, to the position last month. In the new position, Gleicher will be part of the broader product policy team that helps Facebook’s team craft rules for how they keep the platform secure for users. Although the director role is new, Facebook has in the past employed various other policy experts focused on cybersecurity. Gleicher will be leading a team that will help guide Facebook internal strategy as well as adapt to external policy decisions that come from Washington, D.C. “We’re pleased that Nathaniel joined us recently to help support our security efforts,” a spokesperson said. Gleicher will work closely with Facebook’s existing technical security team and others from outside the company. The move comes several months after Facebook […]

The post Facebook hires first ever head of cybersecurity policy appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Facebook hires first ever head of cybersecurity policy→