X-Industry

Meta’s decision to close its CrowdTangle division, a tool that tracks content across social media, has raised the ire of more than 100 research and advocacy groups who say it will make it harder to fight disinformation.

Groups including the Mozilla Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology and Access Now sent the social media behemoth an open letter Thursday decrying the decision to shutter the unit in August, asking Meta to, at a minimum, invest in CrowdTangle through January.  Meta a

Improving social media governance is crucial for organizations to effectively manage their online presence, protect their reputation, and ensure compliance with relevant regulations.  Yet, many organizations struggle to do this because an ever-evolving social media and technology landscape makes it challenging to adapt their strategies and policies.  New platforms, features, and trends emerge regularly, making it challenging for organizations to keep up and evolve accordingly.

Social Media Threa

Impending doom looked foreseeable with Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and began to show early on even before the billionaire completed his purchase.  From the daily tit-for-tat on his Twitter acquisition stance, it became apparent to some that that Musk’s indecisive nature foretold an ominous future for Twitter.  However, the actual chaos ensued just hours after Musk became the largest stakeholder in the bird app.  From his plan to grant a “blue tick” verification symbol to anyon

Attacks on educational facilities continue to plague the .edu world.  A local US, Kentucky university was hit with a cyberattack that has left it with embarrassing and inappropriate pictures on their social media account that they cannot take down.  Thomas More University’s Facebook account was hacked, and all of their account managers are locked out.  “About three weeks ago we got a notice that told us all of the university administrators, who are admins on the page, have been removed,” said vi

Seems Twitter is having many serious issues of late.  A few months ago, Elon Musk started a whirlwind inside and outside the social media giant.  Now regulators at the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued regulatory action against Twitter.  Twitter has agreed to pay $150 million for violating a 2011 administrative order with the FTC over how it used the email addresses and phone numbers of its users for targeted advertising, the agency announced with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on May

Last week, Russia blocked access to BBC website and the media outlet resorted to broadcasting news bulletins over shortwave radio in the country.  According to a UK media report, the BBC said it was bringing back the WWII-era broadcasting technology in the region, just hours before its sites were banned.  "It's often said truth is the first casualty of war.  In a conflict where disinformation and propaganda is rife, there is a clear need for factual and independent news people can trust and in a

Addictive “brain hijacking” methods used by social media giants to keep users on their platforms have harmful effects, particularly on children, according to an industry insider who says the companies may be violating child protection laws and consumer protection laws by employing such techniques.  This researcher, who has over 35 years of experience in the tech and telecom industry, recently testified before Congress, speaking to members about some of the deceptive practices used by social medi

An ongoing disinformation campaign called "Ghostwriter," which leverages compromised social media accounts is targeting several NATO member countries in Europe.  Ghostwriter is attempting to undermine confidence in the defensive organization as well as spread discord in Eastern Europe.  Researchers who uncovered the campaign in July 2020, have now documented an additional 20 incidents related to the cyber operation, including at least one earlier in 2021. 

The Ghostwriter campaign is primarily a

Activity Summary - Week Ending 12 March 2021:

• Super Keylogger being used as a Lure – ‘Super.Keylogee’
• Red Sky Alliance identified 29,347 connections from new unique IP Addresses
• Analysts identified 1,199 new IP addresses participating in various Botnets
• Sality still reigns as our #1 Malware Variant
• IcedID
• Baby Elephants are Cute, but…….
• Qualys and Accellion FTA
• SonicWall hacking
• FireEye Attack
• Myanmar, China and Russia curtailing social media, No Surprise

Link to full report: IR-21-071-001_wee

Activity Summary - Week Ending 31 December 2020:

• Red Sky Alliance identified 22,558 connections from new unique IP addresses
• Analysts identified 2,589 new IP addresses participating in various Botnets
• 52 unique email accounts were observed compromised with Keyloggers
• NZBGeek hit
• Year of the Covid - Hacking
• Auchtung - Funke Mediengruppe und Doppelpaymer
• Social Media and Hacking
• Victor Gevers, “yourefired”
• Twitch has a sever Itch, or Worse
• Cuban Artists and Social Media Protests
• Activists using s