cyberterrorism
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Facebook knows it must do more to fight bad actors
Not everything at SXSW 2018 was about films or gadgets. A few blocks away from the Austin Convention Center, where the event is being held, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) hosted a number of panels for its Innovation Policy Day. In a session dubbed "Fighting Terror with Tech," Facebook's Lead Policy Manager of Counterterrorism, Brian Fishman, spoke at great length about what the company is doing to keep bad actors away from its platform. That doesn't only include terrorists who may be using the site to communicate, or to try to radicalize others, but also trolls, bots and the spreading of hate speech and fake news.
US prosecutes man who hacked identities to help ISIS
Extremism and terrorism are complex things in the internet era, and US federal prosecutors are learning this first hand. The Justice Department recently charged Kosovo citizen Ardit Ferizi with leading a hacking team that swiped the personal data of US military staffers in order to help Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) supporters kill as many as 1,000 Americans. That campaign hasn't panned out, as you might have guessed, but it makes the consequences of a typical data breach look timid by comparison.
Newsweek's Twitter account hacked, spews out threats to Obama
Hackers claiming ties to ISIS took over Pentagon social media accounts last month, and today, the group targeted the media. The so-called CyberCaliphate snatched Newsweek's Twitter feed this morning, communicating threats against President Obama and his family. Representatives for the publication say it has since taken back the account and apologized for the offensive tweets posted during the incident. Commandeering the social feed of a major news outlet was sure to get the President's attention, and it comes just weeks after he announced a big push for stricter cybersecurity legislation. Obama's plan includes increasing the ability of law enforcement to track down those who commit cybercrimes, a federally mandated privacy standard and disclosure requirements when a company -- like Sony -- is breached.
U.S. electrical grid penetrated by spies, hackers, or something unfathomably more terrible (update: China responds)
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the electricity grid in the United States has been infiltrated by "cyperspies," in an attempt to map the infrastructure, leaving behind software that could pose potential threats in times of crisis. Quoting anonymous "current and former" national security officials, the report claims that the spies, hailing from China, Russia, and "other countries" have not attempted to do any damage, but that they could, and that these types of intrusions are on the rise. Officials are of course worried about the potential implications of such penetrations, noting that much of our infrastructure, including nuclear power plants and financial institutions, are at risk. Unfortunately for the WSJ and its Cold War-era headline, the article goes on to state that it's not really possible to know whether a particular attack is "government sponsored," or just the work of regular old hackers from those regions running amok in cyberspace. Additionally, spokespeople from the Russian and Chinese Embassies vehemently deny their respective governments involvement in any such work. The Wall Street Journal, of course, fails to point out the most obvious of explanations: it's aliens. Update: China has officially responded to the report. From a WSJ blog post: "The intrusion doesn't exist at all," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular press conference. "We hope that the concerned media will prudently deal with some groundless remarks, especially those concerning accusations against China." "I have also noticed that the U.S. White House had denied the media reports," she said.
