Reality Winner arrested following NSA leaks pointing to attempted Russian hacking of US election
New evidence has emerged detailing Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 US election. A leaked, top secret NSA report shared by the Intercept reveals that Russian intelligence agencies hacked the manufacturer of US voting systems.
The Intercept says that the authenticity of the documents has been independently verified, and they show a concerted Russian effort to sway the result of the battle between Trump and Clinton. Following the leak, a government contractor called Reality Leigh Winner has been arrested for allegedly removing classified material from a government facility in Georgia.
Facebook's solution to fake news: 'fight information with more information'
It may be Donald Trump who is obsessed with what he perceives as "fake news" (translation: anything which is not in line with his personal views), but there is a genuine problem with the dissemination of false information online, particularly on social media sites such as Facebook.
Just as it has voiced a commitment to tackling its well-known problems with trolling and abuse, Facebook has also made a great deal of noise about fighting fake news. Despite this, Facebook shareholders have rejected proposals that suggested the company should release a report into the impact of fake news. Mark Zuckerberg thinks he has a solution: "fight information with more information."
Trump administration approves visa questionnaire that asks for social media handles
The world may be focused on the US withdrawal from the Paris accord, but the Trump administration is causing plenty of ripples in other areas too. Not content with trying to push through travel bans, the US government is also tightening up on visa applications.
An updated version of the supplemental visa application questionnaire asks would-be visitors for not only details of their travel and address history, but also for the names they use on social media. Applicants are required to provide details dating back five years, but officials are not saying in what circumstances the extra questions will become necessary.
Fake News: Half of Donald Trump's Twitter followers are bots
This story isn’t actually "Fake News", but rather news about fakes. We all know Donald Trump loves Twitter (more than covfefe itself!), and with over 31 million followers it appears the 45th President of the United States of America is hugely popular on the social site.
Except, well, his 31 million followers aren’t quite what they seem.
US may extend laptop ban to all international flights
The US is considering extending its laptop ban to all international flights to and from the country. Speaking on Fox News Sunday this weekend, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said there was a "sophisticated" terrorist threat which could see and expansion of the ban on devices larger than smartphones.
Back in March, citing a threat from terrorists "smuggling explosive devices in various consumer items," the Trump administration introduced an electronics ban on flights from a number of countries. If the ban was to be expanded, there would likely be a backlash from the increased number of people no longer able to take their laptops on flights as carry-on items.
Trump's 2016 Big Data political arms race
Events happen so quickly in the wacky whirlwind world of Donald Trump that it’s hard to react in anything close to real time, but there was an interesting story in the Guardian last weekend that I think deserves some technical context.
The Great British Brexit Robbery: How our Democracy was Hijacked is a breathless but well sourced story about how a U.S. billionaire harnessed Big Data to split up the European Union and steal a U.S. Presidential election. It’s an interesting read, but the point I want to make here is that the tale was entirely predictable and if one side hadn’t done it, the other would have. Next time they’ll all do it.
Word vulnerability, Windows bug, and 'Trump's_Attack_on_Syria' document used in Sednit phishing attack
The Sednit group believed to have been involved in interference with the French election was also responsible for a phishing attack that used President Trump to lure in victims. Security firm ESET analyzed a phishing email with an attachment named Trump's_Attack_on_Syria_English.docx and found that it had the hallmarks of the well-known group.
The document was engineered to infect victims' computers with the Seduploader tool, and it did this by exploiting two vulnerabilities, one in Microsoft Word, and one in Windows. Sednit -- previously known as APT28, Fancy Bear, and Sofacy -- took advantage of a recently discovered Remote Code Execution vulnerability in Word (CVE-2017-0262) as well as a security hole in Windows (CVE-2017-0263) in executing the attack.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales sets up WikiTribune to fight fake news
Donald Trump is obsessed with the notion of FAKE NEWS. Whether his definition is the same as everyone else's is open to debate, but there is a genuine problem with the spread of propaganda, nonsense, and stories which are clearly fabricated. Google and Facebook and other big names from the world of tech have started to fight back, and now it's the turn of Jimmy Wales.
The Wikipedia founder is setting up WikiTribune, an online news publication which focuses on fact-checking, using a combination of paid journalists and contributions from the community. It is described as a "new kind of news platform," and aims to provide "accurate information with real evidence, so that you can confidently make up your own mind."
Hackers release password to encrypted cache of NSA tools
Last year, hacking group TheShadowBrokers released a number of NSA exploits into the wild, showing how the agency was able to exploit big-name firewalls. At the same time it also released a second cache of documents, encrypted and password protected. Now, in protest against Donald Trump, the group has released the password for the encrypted data.
TheShadowBrokers used a Medium post over the weekend to express their disgust at Trump's presidency. The documents and tools released allegedly demonstrate that the US government, through the NSA, has been actively hacking foreign government networks, and reveal an exploit for the Unix-based Solaris operating system.
Twitter sues US government for trying to reveal identity of anti-Trump user, @ALT_uscis
A lawsuit filed by Twitter shows that the US government has been trying to force the company to reveal the identity of a user behind an account that is critical of Donald Trump and government policies.
The lawsuit reveals that Customs and Border Patrol hit Twitter with a summons in the middle of March relating to the @ALT_uscis (Alt US Citizenship and Immigration Services) account. The account is one of many "alt" accounts that sprang up after Trump inauguration, purportedly set up by disgruntled civil servants, and it is critical of immigration policy and plans to build a wall on the Mexican border.
Trump signs resolution permitting ISPs to share your web history without consent
Donald Trump has forged ahead and done what privacy advocates hoped would not happen. The US president has signed a resolution rolling back FCC privacy rules, meaning that ISPs are now free to share and sell customers' browsing histories without express permission.
The signing of the bill into law comes after the Senate and then the House voted to allow ISPs to share customer data without consent. The White House has confirmed that Trump has reversed the Obama-era rules, so closely targeted advertising is now not far away.
Hacked! New York Post mobile app compromised in security breach
The New York Post suffered a security breach this weekend when its push notification system was compromised. Unknown attackers used the system to send out messages to users of the New York Post mobile app.
The hackers sent out messages with strange, cryptic content. One read "Heil President Donald Trump!", while others had a religious or spiritual tone to them, and one quoted a Nirvana lyric.
Google, Microsoft and Apple will stick to their climate goals in spite of Trump's environmental views
Earlier this week, Donald Trump signed an executive order that effectively killed Obama-era environmental policies. Expressing his love of "clean coal" -- despite such a substance not actually existing -- Trump wiped out Obama orders that aimed to reduce carbon production and signalled an "end to the war on coal."
The signing of the executive order was met with astonishment around the world, and many voices have spoken out against the wisdom of the move. Among those are technology companies, many of whom have said that they will stick to promises they have made to tackling climate change -- something Google is aiming to do by switching to 100 percent renewable energy this year.
US House votes to destroy the privacy rights of web users
Last week, the US Senate voted to permit ISPs to share -- or sell -- customers' browsing histories and other data without permission. Now the House has gone ahead and voted the same way, so internet users' privacy is now up for sale.
Just as the Senate vote to overturn privacy rules was close (50 votes to 48), so was yesterday's: 215 to 205. The repeal of the FCC-approved rules had President Trump's support, and the latest vote means that all manner of personal information is now able to be sold for marketing and advertising without individuals' consent.
US bans laptops and tablets on flights from eight countries in Africa and the Middle East
Not content with its second crack of the whip with a travel ban, the Trump administration has now issued a ban on larger electronic devices being taken on flights from certain countries. Devices larger than a cell phone will not be permitted in cabin baggage but must instead be checked in.
The ban is set to run indefinitely, and means that laptops, tablets, portable DVD players, ebook readers, portable games consoles and other larger electronic devices will be banished to the holds of aircraft. While the ban focuses on individual airports rather than countries, it has been noted that they are located in Muslim-majority parts of the world
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