Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg obsessed over the wrong bit of history. Or else didn’t study his preferred slice of classical antiquity carefully enough, faced, as he now is, with an existential crisis of ‘fake news’ simultaneously undermining trust in his own empire and in democracy itself. A recent New Yorker profile — questioning whether the Facebook founder can fix […]
View More What history could tell Mark ZuckerbergCategory: Russian election interference
How Russia’s online influence campaign engaged with millions for years
Russian efforts to influence U.S. politics and sway public opinion were consistent and, as far as engaging with target audiences, largely successful, according to a report from Oxford’s Computational Propaganda Project published today. Based on data provided to Congress by Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Twitter, the study paints a portrait of the years-long campaign that’s less than flattering to the companies.
View More How Russia’s online influence campaign engaged with millions for yearsThis is what Americans think about the state of election security right now
A wide-ranging new poll yields some useful insight into how worried the average American feels about election threats as the country barrels toward midterms. The survey, conducted by NPR and researchers with Marist College, polled 949 adult US residents in early September across regions of the country, contacting participants through both landlines and mobile devices. The […]
View More This is what Americans think about the state of election security right nowFormer Facebook security chief says creating election chaos is still easy
As someone who’s had a years-long front row seat to Russia’s efforts influence US politics, former Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos has a pretty solid read on what we can expect from the 2018 midterms. Stamos left the company last month to work on cybersecurity education at Stanford. “If there’s no foreign interference during […]
View More Former Facebook security chief says creating election chaos is still easyHow to watch Facebook and Twitter’s big hearings with Congress
On Wednesday, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will appear before Congress in the latest high profile hearings for tech on Capitol Hill. The main event will take place at 9:30 a.m. ET, as the pair of tech execs faces the defense and cybersecurity-minded Senate Select Intelligence Committee. Following that hearing, Dorsey […]
View More How to watch Facebook and Twitter’s big hearings with CongressValimail offers US election boards, campaigns and voting vendors its email anti-spoofing service for free
Valimail, an enterprise email security firm, announced that it will offer its email protections for free to relevant government workers and campaigns through the 2018 midterms. That offer covers state election boards, voting system vendors and major party U.S. election campaigns, including congressional, statewide and gubernatorial candidates. The company will also offer the same email […]
View More Valimail offers US election boards, campaigns and voting vendors its email anti-spoofing service for freeOutgoing Facebook CSO Alex Stamos will join Disrupt SF to talk cybersecurity
At Disrupt SF 2018, Facebook’s soon-to-be-former chief security officer Alex Stamos will join us to chat about his tenure in the top security role for the world’s biggest social network, how it feels to have weathered some of the biggest security and privacy scandals to ever hit the tech industry and securing U.S. elections in […]
View More Outgoing Facebook CSO Alex Stamos will join Disrupt SF to talk cybersecurityActivists push back on Facebook’s decision to remove a DC protest event
A number of activists and organizers in the Washington DC area are disputing Facebook’s decision to remove a counter-protest event against a rally organized by Jason Kessler, the white nationalist figure who planned the deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Facebook removed the event, “No Unite the Right 2-DC,” after discovering that one account connected to […]
View More Activists push back on Facebook’s decision to remove a DC protest eventDHS launches a new cyber hub to coordinate against threats to US infrastructure
Among the many things the current administration has been criticized for is its lack of a unified strategy to combat cyber threats, especially in light of ongoing election interference and psy ops perpetrated by Russia. The Department of Homeland Security is advancing the ball with the creation of the National Risk Management Center, intended on protecting critical infrastructure from attacks and subversion by online adversaries.
View More DHS launches a new cyber hub to coordinate against threats to US infrastructureFacebook really doesn’t want users to go to a fake Unite the Right counter-protest next week
According to COO Sheryl Sandberg, getting ahead of an event called “No Unite the Right 2, DC” is the reason behind Facebook’s decision to disclose new platform behavior that closely resembles previous Russian state-sponsored activity meant to sow political discord in the US. “We’re sharing this today because the connection between these actors and the […]
View More Facebook really doesn’t want users to go to a fake Unite the Right counter-protest next weekRussian hackers already targeted a Missouri senator up for reelection in 2018
A Democratic senator seeking reelection this fall appears to be the first identifiable target of Russian hacking in the 2018 midterm race. In a new story on the Daily Beast, Andrew Desiderio and Kevin Poulsen reported that Democratic Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill was targeted in a campaign-related phishing attack. That clears up one unspecified target […]
View More Russian hackers already targeted a Missouri senator up for reelection in 2018Cloudflare recruits state and local governments for free election site security program
After launching a free program to protect election systems last December, Cloudflare has an update on how things are going. The program, known as the Athenian Project, provides Cloudflare’s services for free to state and local government websites that administer elections, host voter registration or verification data or report election results. Those services include the […]
View More Cloudflare recruits state and local governments for free election site security program