Hacks against U.S. agencies could be most successful cyber-espionage campaign ever, says expert
For months, the U.S. government has been under attack by a foreign power, and no one knows just how much damage has been done.
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Posted: Dec 18, 2020 6:43 PM ET | Last Updated: December 18, 2020
It was revealed this week that hackers had found their way into the networks of some of the most sensitive departments of the U.S. government.(Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press)
Print article SAN FRANCISCO - Front-line health workers in the United States began receiving coronavirus vaccines this week. But on social media, false theories about the vaccines’ dangers and conspiracies about the government’s plans for it are multiplying. This week, researchers at misinformation-research group Zignal Labs found that false narratives claiming that the vaccine contains tracking microchips and that the government will make vaccines mandatory continue to circulate. In some cases, right-leaning figures and news sites pushed the disinformation, as well as dubious websites and followers of bogus conspiracy theory QAnon. Social media companies have been working all year to remove false and misleading information about the pandemic from their sites. Companies including Facebook and Twitter say they are redoubling their efforts with new rules related to vaccines this month, adding new labels and trying to point people to legitimate news.
8:40 CAT | 17 Dec 2020
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Share 2. We also removed 63 Facebook accounts, 29 Pages, 7 Groups and 1 Instagram account for coordinated inauthentic behaviour. This network originated in Russia and focused primarily on the Central African Republic (CAR), and to a lesser extent on Madagascar, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, South Africa and the CAR diaspora in France, reads the report. [Image: Facebook]
December 15, 2020
By Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Security Policy, and David Agranovich, Global Threat Disruption Lead
Today we removed three separate networks for violating our policy against foreign or government interference which is coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) on behalf of a foreign or government entity. These networks originated in France and Russia and targeted multiple countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
Fallout from massive Russian hack of U.S. agencies continues
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Security experts, businesses and government agencies are continuing their work to understand the scope of a massive cyber attack, while the finger-pointing and blame game is also picking up steam.
The big picture: Experts warn the attack could have severe repercussions given it went on for months, targeted key companies and government agencies and gained access to a wide swath of substantive information.
Catch up quick: The attack, attributed to Russia, began with the targeting of security firm SolarWinds. Gaining access there allowed the nation-state hackers access to information from a variety of high-profile agencies and companies, including the Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security departments.