Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online
The full title is 'Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online: Working with Tech to Find Solutions' and the author, Clint Watts (Forum member), gave evidence today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism.
There is much to learn; this sentence IMHO will resonate with Forum readers:
Quote:
Stopping the false information artillery barrage landing on social media users comes only when those outlets distributing bogus stories are silenced – silence the guns and the barrage will end.
(He ends with) America’s war with itself has already begun. We all must act now on the social media battlefield to quell information rebellions that can quickly lead to violent confrontations and easily transform us into the Divided States of America.
Link:https://www.fpri.org/article/2017/10...ind-solutions/
Dodged a cyber bullet here
Quote:
FBI Director Chris Wray and a team of security officials told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that Huawei and ZTE pose threats to the US.
Quote:
That position of power would allow Huawei or ZTE "the capacity to exert pressure or control over our telecommunications infrastructure, it provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steals information and provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage."
He commended AT&T and Verizon for heeding the government's warnings regarding Huawei, which led to the Mate 10 Pro not getting carrier support in the US.
https://www.cnet.com/news/huawei-zte...hris-wray-nsa/
Chinese spies linked to decade-long hacking campaign
Temporary stand-alone thread until everyone who needs to see this has seen it.
Quote:
China's long-running hacking efforts may be more extensive than first thought. Security researchers at ProtectWise's 401TRG team have determined that a long series of previously unconnected attacks are actually part of a concerted campaign by Chinese intelligence officials. Nicknamed the Winnti umbrella, the effort has been going on since "at least" 2009 and has struck game companies (like Nexon and Trion) and other tech-driven businesses to compromise political targets.
There are common methods and goals to the attacks. They usually start with phishing to trick someone into compromising the company network (often using political bait), and then use a mix of custom and off-the-shelf malware to collect info. They'll often stay undetected by "living off the land" with the victim's own software, such as system admin tools. The intuders are primarily looking for code signing certificates and "software manipulation," according to the report.
The perpetrators also make occasional mistakes, and it's those slip-ups that helped identify the Chinese origins. They normally use command-and-control servers to hide, but they inadvertently accessed some machines using IP addresses from China Unicom's network in a Beijing district.
Even with these mistakes, the Winnti umbrella is an "advanced and potent threat," 401TRG said. It's also a not-so-subtle reminder that China's state-backed hacking efforts are deeper than they seem at first glance -- hacks that appear to be one-off incidents may be linked if you look for subtler similarities.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/06/...mbrella-hacks/
Original source -> https://arstechnica.com/information-...ligence-group/