X-Industry

YouTube announced major changes to the YouTube Partner Program taking effect 1 February 2027.  New creators will need 8,000 watch hours or 20 million Shorts views to qualify for ad revenue, doubling existing entry benchmarks. Current partners are grandfathered in, though Shorts ad payouts will now require a recurring 10 million views over 90 days.

YouTube is planning a big requirement change to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) that will make it harder for new creators to start monetizing from a

A US federal jury in Los Angeles on 25 March 2026 found Meta and Google liable in a closely watched trial accusing social media platforms of designing their products to get young users addicted, awarding the plaintiff $3 million in damages.  Meta was ordered to pay 70% of the awarded compensatory damages, while Google is responsible for the rest.  The verdict came after nine days, roughly 43 hours, of deliberations.  The jury is expected to decide on punitive damages.  "For years, social media c

A new analysis by researchers at CyberArk has detailed a significant research effort revealing operational details of a StealC malware operator by exploiting a vulnerability in the malware's leaked web panel.  The recent findings demonstrate how poor security practices within criminal infrastructure can be turned against threat actors.  StealC is information-stealing malware operating under a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) model since early 2023.  It enables customers to steal passwords, session co

In Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Drumhead,” a Starfleet officer’s suspected espionage sparks an overzealous investigation that turns into a witch hunt, driven by paranoia.  Captain Picard’s warning about the dangers of overreaction, “With the first link, the chain is forged…,” underscores the importance of caution when assigning blame. This is highly relevant to the hacking of Ranveer Allahbadia’s YouTube channel, where suspicions point to Chinese hackers.  Although China has a his

Transparent Tribe (aka APT 36, Operation C-Major) has been active since at least 2016 with attacks against Indian government and military personnel.  The group relies heavily on social engineering attacks to deliver a variety of Windows and Android spyware, including spear-phishing and watering hole attacks.

In September 2023, SentinelLabs outlined the CapraTube campaign, which used weaponized Android applications (APK) designed to mimic YouTube, often in a suspected dating context due to the na

Adobe is recruiting help from its network of photographers and videographers to train its new AI text-to-video generator, but is the company paying enough?   To catch up with other AI video generators like Google's Lumiere and OpenAI's Sora, Adobe is purchasing videos that show people engaging in everyday activities like walking, running, using a cell phone, and working out, and other videos showing emotions like sadness, excitement, or rage.  Adobe also requests simple videos of human anatomy l

Facebook and Instagram users will start seeing labels on AI-generated images on their social media feeds, part of a broader tech industry initiative to sort between what is real and what is not.  A Meta spokesman said on 06 February 2024 that it is working with industry partners on technical standards to make it easier to identify images and, eventually, video and audio generated by artificial intelligence tools.[1]

See:  https://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/why-do-some-ai-images-look-like-me

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FortiGuard Labs recently discovered a threat group using YouTube channels to distribute a Lumma Stealer variant.  Analysts found and reported on a similar attack method via YouTube in March 2023.  These YouTube videos typically feature content related to cracked applications, presenting users with similar installation guides and incorporating malicious URLs often shortened using services like TinyURL and Cuttly.  To circumvent straightforward web filter blacklists, the attackers exploit open-sou

FortiGuard Labs discovered an ongoing threat campaign targeting YouTube viewers searching for pirated software earlier this month.  Videos advertising downloads of “cracked” (aka pirated) software are uploaded by verified YouTube channels with a large number of subscribers.  Victims are led to execute malicious binaries that install multiple malware into their systems focused on harvesting credentials, cryptojacking, and stealing cryptocurrency funds from wallets.

While investigating this campai

Attackers have been abusing legitimate YouTube attribution links and a Cloudflare CAPTCHA to evade detection.  Cybersecurity company Vade said the use of YouTube attribution links was a new tactic for bypassing email filters scanning for suspicious redirects.

In a newly discovered phishing campaign, victims receive a spoofed email saying their Microsoft 365 password has expired. The email is personalized and contextualized to create an illusion of legitimacy.  Vade researchers noted that the ema

Activity Summary - Week Ending on 10 November 2022:

• Red Sky Alliance identified 23,574 connections from new IP’s checking in with our Sinkholes
• Timeweb[.]ru hit 251x – for the 2^nd Week
• Analysts identified 1,762 new IP addresses participating in various Botnets
• Patching is Very Important
• Microsoft Patch Tuesday
• YouTube - You’re Not Helping
• Vidar stealer
• Stolen Data in Australia
• Lloyd’s of London
• School System Stands its Ground
• Oil & Gas - ABBs

Link to full report: IR-22-313-001_weekly313.pdf