Tag: twitter
Musk rattles skeletons in Brussels’ cupboard
The European Union (EU) suffered a major setback this week in its drive to recreate cyberspace in its own image. In a surprising turnaround, the EU appears to have caved into threats by X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk to reveal “secret deals” offered by the EU to himself and other US-based global social network platforms. Until Monday, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton appeared to be preparing for a legal cage fight with Musk, a man who is tipped to become the world’s first trillionaire, over the issue of free speech and Musk’s refusal to censor political debate on X in line with Brussels’ wishes. Breton’s shock resignation yesterday is now being seen by many as evidence of the truth behind Musk’s allegations. X CEO Linda Yaccarino immediately referred to the resignation of European Union commissioner Thierry Breton as "a good day for free speech."
Brussels backs down on mass surveillance
The European Union (EU) Council has made a last-minute withdrawal of the EU’s highly controversial planned “Chat Control” legislation, which was due to vote yesterday. This would have effectively introduced mass digital surveillance by means of fully automated real-time monitoring of all messaging and chats. The EU would appear to finally have heeded the harsh warnings that have been coming from the cybersecurity and communication sectors since the controversial ruling was first proposed in 2022. For the six months prior to Thursday’s decision, the EU Belgian Council presidency has been sitting on a deadlock between EU countries. Germany and Poland have heeded privacy experts' warnings of a potential police state. But Ireland and Spain are pressing for draconian new online laws to fight a rise in online child sexual abuse material that has grown since the start of Europe’s widespread lockdowns two and a half years ago.
Telegram chief arrested in Paris
Speculation is today mounting concerning the arrest of the popular encrypted messaging app Telegram head and founder, Pavel Durov, at Le Bourget airport north of Paris on Saturday evening. The arrest has been widely reported in France, although the authorities have yet to issue a full statement. In the past, the French president. Emmanuel Macron and his team have been enthusiastic users of Telegram, using it to orchestrate their political strategies. But Durov’s arrest on Saturday is now being seen as part of an attempt by the UK and the European Union to curtail the reach and influence of largely unregulated communications platforms such as Telegram and X (formerly Twitter). This theory is born out of sources close to the situation, who believe that Durov will face charges of complicity in drug trafficking, crimes against children, and fraud – all allegedly stemming from a lack of moderation controls on Telegram.
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.
Millions of emails distributing LockBit ransomware
Affiliates of the infamous ransomware group LockBit have launched a potentially devastating new weaponized email tactic designed to cause maximum disruption to millions of companies in the US and around the world. At the end of April this year, researchers at cybersecurity firm Proofpoint began to observe high-volume ransomware campaigns sending out millions of fraudulent emails over a one-week period, facilitated by the Phorpiex botnet. In all cases, email messages purported to come from “Jenny Green” with the email address Jenny@gsd[.]com. These contained an attached ZIP file capable of downloading the LockBit Black ransomware payload from Phorpiex botnet infrastructure.
Android Malware Posing as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Snapchat – May 15th
The SonicWall Capture Labs team reported on threat actors developing malicious, fake Android apps to impersonate Google, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and X. When downloaded by victims and once permissions have been granted to use them, illegitimate apps aim to steal sensitive data from Android devices, such as contacts, text messages, call logs, and passwords.
26 Billion Stolen Record Database Discovered – January 24th
Security Discovery researchers and the Cybernews team discovered the largest data leak ever recorded, containing 26 billion records predominantly stolen from major social media platforms and government agencies. Dubbed "The Mother of All Breaches", the 12 terabytes of compromised records were stolen most notably from Tencent QQ (1.5B), Weibo (504M), MySpace (360M), Twitter (281M), LinkedIn (251M), AdultFriendFinder (220M), among government agency data from the United States, Brazil, Germany, the Philippines, Turkey, among others.
SEC X Account Hacked to Push Bitcoin ETFs – January 10th
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed through a spokesperson and social media announcements that the agency's X (formerly Twitter) account was compromised to promote Bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin's value spiked to nearly $48k as a result of the false Tweet, despite being taken down just 30 minutes after being published.
Turkish Cyber Espionage Group Targeting Dutch Orgs – January 9th
Hunt & Hackett uncovered information on “Sea Turtle”, a Turkish-affiliated cyber espionage group that shifted focus to target Netherlands-based organizations. "Sea Turtle" was found to launch politically motivated evasive info-stealing campaigns targeting Dutch government, telco, media, and NGO organizations.
New Sophisticated Attacks Demonstrated by Disney+ Impersonators – December 6th
Abnormal Security published a study revealing a Disney+ impersonation attack, demonstrating never-before-seen phishing tactics. The cybercriminals initiated the impersonation attack through an auto-generated notification email, about pending charges for their Disney+ subscription. The emails also demonstrated customized PDFs, with legitimate numbers & emails, inflated charges, and believable branding.
Cybersecurity Executive Admits to Hospital Hacking for Business Gain – November 20th
In a startling revelation, Vikas Singla, the former COO of cybersecurity firm Securolytics, confessed to hacking two Georgia hospitals in June 2021 to enhance the company’s profile. Singla disrupted services at Gwinnett Medical Center hospitals, stealing patient data and publicizing the breach on Twitter. Facing 17 counts of computer damage and one count of information theft, Vikas Singla agreed to pay over $817,000 in restitution. Due to health issues, prosecutors recommended 57 months of probation, raising concerns about cyber threats jeopardizing public safety and healthcare data.