Category: Russia

Cybersecurity data breach Hack hacks Policy Privacy Russia Security TC Yahoo yahoo breach Yahoo data breach

Four years later, Yahoo still doesn’t know how 3 billion accounts were hacked

sudshr47 November 8, 2017

 On Wednesday, in a security hearing that called both Equifax and Yahoo’s past and present executives to Washington D.C., we’re learning a bit more about what Yahoo didn’t know about the biggest hack in history. When pressed about how Yahoo failed to recognize that 3 billion accounts — and not 500 million as first reported — were compromised in what was later… Read More

View More Four years later, Yahoo still doesn’t know how 3 billion accounts were hacked
Big Tech Companies Donald Trump Russia Tech

Russian trolls pushed the California and Texas secession movements

sudshr47 November 7, 2017

TwitterFacebook

Texans and Californians who supported their state’s secession in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election may have been duped by the Russian government. 

The Internet Research Agency has recently been linked to secession efforts in Texas and — as the BBC reported late last week — California.

Perhaps you remember #Calexit. 

Styled in the way of #Brexit, the campaign for the United Kingdom to remove itself from the European Union, #Calexit is a California secession “movement” that seemed to gain some traction right as President Donald Trump was elected, with the apparent aid of a Twitter bot network.  Read more…

More about Russia, Donald Trump, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

View More Russian trolls pushed the California and Texas secession movements
Business Russia Troll Twitter

That moment you learn you’ve been yelling at a Russian troll

sudshr47 November 3, 2017

TwitterFacebook

A lot of folks have yelled at @Jenn_Abrams on Twitter, and that was the point. 

Twitter users can no longer find @Jenn_Abrams on that social platform, because the account was removed after a congressional investigation revealed — as reported by The Daily Beast — this Abrams person was actually a troll account sent into the world by the Russian propaganda outfit known as the Internet Research Agency. 

Created in 2014, the folks behind the account spent some time sucking up followers with successfully viral tweets before swerving into right-wing politics in the lead-up to the United States presidential election in 2016. From there, the Abrams account incited angry political tweets. Read more…

More about Business, Twitter, Russia, Troll, and Business

View More That moment you learn you’ve been yelling at a Russian troll
Big Tech Companies Business Facebook Russia

Facebook admits to nearly as many fake or clone accounts as the U.S. population

sudshr47 November 3, 2017

TwitterFacebook

Amid the distraction of Facebook’s blockbuster earnings this week, the company quietly admitted to hosting more phony accounts than previously revealed.  

The social network upped its estimate of the portion of fake accounts from 2 to 3 percent and the number of duplicates from 6 to 10 percent, Business Insider first reported.

That means that as many as 270 million of the platform’s 2.1-billion-strong user base could be fraudulent — a population verging on the size of the United States. 

Facebook said the change was due to better tools for tracking illegitimate activity rather than a sudden spike in fishy sign-ups.   Read more…

More about Facebook, Russia, Business, and Big Tech Companies

View More Facebook admits to nearly as many fake or clone accounts as the U.S. population
Facebook Fake News Russia Social Media Companies Tech

2 senators just trolled Facebook

sudshr47 November 3, 2017

TwitterFacebook

Russia’s not the only country who knows how to troll. 

Two Democratic senators created a Facebook page for a fake political group, just to prove that they could.

Ads for the page — created by Mark Warner of Virginia and Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar — were able to reach 1,407 Washington D.C.-based journalists, and 1,369 other Capitol Hill staffers. They only paid $20. 

Yes. That’s how easy it is to spread fake news. 

The page promoted a non-existent political group called Americans for Discourse Solutions. Over 24 hours, the two senators bought ads to target the staffers and journalists in question.  Read more…

More about Facebook, Russia, Fake News, Tech, and Social Media Companies

View More 2 senators just trolled Facebook
Congress Facebook Government instagram Policy Russia Russian election interference Senate Intelligence Committee Social TC

Here’s how Russia targeted its fake Facebook ads and how those ads performed

sudshr47 November 1, 2017

 It’s impossible to know just how much stuff being circulated on social networks is Russian state content in sheep’s clothing, although tech companies are scrambling to figure that out. Now, thanks to Congress, we just got a rare peek behind the curtain of how Facebook’s ad operations were manipulated by a foreign power to foment outrage and division in American society. Read More

View More Here’s how Russia targeted its fake Facebook ads and how those ads performed
Advertising Tech Congress Facebook Google Government Policy regulation Russia Russian election interference TC Twitter

In their first Russia hearing, tech giants try to placate Congress (with mixed results)

sudshr47 October 31, 2017

 On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off the first of three hearings this week examining the relationship between social media and Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The hearings mark the first time that lawmakers will hear testimony from Google, Facebook and Twitter around how their platforms were and are manipulated as part of Russian political… Read More

View More In their first Russia hearing, tech giants try to placate Congress (with mixed results)