Tag: meta
Chinese AI offering rattles Big Tech investors
The start of this week saw roughly $1 trillion wiped off leading US tech stocks, following the launch of Deepseek, a Chinese rival to AI offerings such as Microsoft ChatGPT. What has really spooked the markets is that the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) assistant uses less data and generates lower all-round costs than its current Silicon Valley rivals. The expense of training and developing DeepSeek’s models is claimed to be only a small fraction of that required for OpenAI, putting into question the need to invest in the latest and most powerful AI accelerator chips from Nvidia. At the start of trading this week, Shares in Nvidia dropped a full10 percent and AI data analytics company Palantir lost seven percent in pre-market trading. Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Meta all also experienced a drop in their share price.
Dutch Police Take Down major global cyber threat
The Dutch Police, Politie, claim to have removed a major threat to organizations all over the world by dismantling two of the most notorious ‘infostealers’, software designed to breach computer systems to steal sensitive information. “Operation Magnus,” conducted in collaboration with Team Cybercrime Limburg, is reported to have taken down the Redline and META info stealers, which have been responsible for infecting millions of computers worldwide with malware, leaving them open to devastating ransomware attacks and other threats.
Musk deems “Apple Intelligence” offering insecure
Bereft of fresh ideas or new products, Apple’s main offering at its long-awaited annual Worldwide Developer's Conference in Cupertino, California, is a cobbled-together artificial intelligence (AI) offering. While AI may be Silicon Valley’s latest buzzword and marketing tool, “Apple Intelligence,” as Apple AI is branded, is already attracting heavy criticism – even from other tech giants. By pairing Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT with Apple’s voice-activated assistant, Siri, Apple hopes to make AI mainstream. But its critics say that all Apple has done is create a cybersecurity nightmare for corporations while sounding a death knell for the personal privacy of Apple users. "It's patently absurd that Apple isn't smart enough to make their own AI, yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy!... Apple has no clue what's actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They're selling you down the river,” says Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX founder and the owner of X Corp, formerly Twitter.
Meta, IRS, Apple, and Amazon Among Impersonated Brands – June 7th
According to a report from Mailtrack, Meta, the IRS, Apple, and Amazon are among the top impersonated American brands. Mailtrack's report also outlined the top impersonated non-American brands, such as Japanese au by KDDI, JR East, Aeon, and JCB. It was based on an analysis of more than 1.14 million phishing scam reports listed on PhishTank.
Facebook’s “Project Ghostbusters” Discovered to Spy on Snapchat Traffic – March 27th
A federal court in California earlier this week released documents that revealed Facebook's 2016 "Project Ghostbusters" campaign. The campaign was designed to mine Snapchat user data to understand their behavior better. The project was a part of Facebook's In-App Action Panel (IAPP) program, which used techniques to intercept and decrypt encrypted app traffic from Snapchat and, later, from YouTube and Amazon.
UN drafts US-led AI resolution
The United Nations has drafted a resolution aimed at bringing the rest of the world in line with existing US artificial intelligence (AI) security guidelines. These follow those already developed by the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Both emphasize the importance of “secure-by-design” and “secure-by-default” principles for AI systems. The UN Assembly called on all Member States and stakeholders “to refrain from or cease the use of artificial intelligence systems that are impossible to operate in compliance with international human rights law.” The Assembly added that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems.
Suspected Hackers Behind Meta Social Media Temporary Shutdown – March 6th
Cyberint reported that three threat actor groups (Skynet, Godzilla, and Anonymous Sudan) are suspected to be behind the temporary shutdown of Meta social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Despite the claims from the three threat actor groups on the Meta shutdown across various Telegram groups, there is still suspicion that these claims could be a hoax.
Russian Campaign Targeting UK Politics Exposed – December 8th
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in collaboration with partners from the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand revealed the Russian-state-backed threat actors terrorizing UK political systems. The NCSC identified the group 'Star Blizzard' to be a subordinate to Centre 18 from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). Star Blizzard targeted UK parliamentarians, UK-US trade documents, UK think tanks, universities, journalists, and NGOs using various sophisticated phishing tactics.
EU Bans Meta’s FB and IG Targeted Advertising – November 2nd
Imposed by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (DPA), the European Data Protection Board announced its latest extension on the temporary ban of Meta's Facebook and Instagram's targeted advertising for data privacy purposes. The Norwegian DPA explained that Meta apps use content preferences based on user posts and location information to create personalized advertising targeting, which poses a threat to data privacy.