Tag: profiles
Leaked Documents Show Russians Boasted Just 1% of Fake Social Profiles are Detected
“The Russian operators of those accounts boast that they are detected by social networks only about 1 percent of the time, one document says.”
That claim, described here for the first time, drew alarm from former government officials and experts inside and outside social media companies contacted for this article. “Google and Meta and others are trying to stop this, and Russia is trying to get better. The figure that you are citing suggests that Russia is winning,” said Thomas Rid, a disinformation scholar and professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He added that the 1 percent claim was likely exaggerated or misleading.
The undated analysis of Russia’s effectiveness at boosting propaganda on Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram and other social media platforms cites activity in late 2022 and was apparently presented to U.S. military leaders in recent months. It is part of a trove of documents circulated in a Discord chatroom and obtained by The Washington Post. Air National Guard technician Jack Teixeira was charged Friday with taking and transmitting the classified papers, charges for which he faces 15 years in prison…
Many of the 10 current and former intelligence and tech safety specialists interviewed for this article cautioned that the Russian agency whose claims helped form the basis for the leaked document may have exaggerated its success rate.
The leaked document was apparently prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Cyber Command and Europe Command, which directs American military activities in Europe. “It refers to signals intelligence, which includes eavesdropping, but does not cite sources for its conclusions,” the Post reports, describing the document as offering “a rare candid assessment by U.S. intelligence of Russian disinformation operations.”
The assessment concludes that foreign bots “view, ‘like,’ subscribe and repost content and manipulate view counts to move content up in search results and recommendation lists.” And the document says a Russian center’s disinformation network — working directly for Russia’s presidential administration — was still working on improvements as recently as late 2022 and expected to improve its ability to “promote pro-Russian narratives abroad.”
After Russia’s 2016 efforts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, social media companies stepped up their attempts to verify users, including through phone numbers. Russia responded, in at least one case, by buying SIM cards in bulk, which worked until companies spotted the pattern, employees said. The Russians have now turned to front companies that can acquire less detectable phone numbers, the document says.
A separate top-secret document from the same Discord trove summarized six specific influence campaigns that were operational or planned for later this year by a new Russian organization, the Center for Special Operations in Cyberspace. The new group is mainly targeting Ukraine’s regional allies, that document said. Those campaigns included one designed to spread the idea that U.S. officials were hiding vaccine side effects, intended to stoke divisions in the West.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
‘Rolex ripper’ gangs stalk celebrity social media profiles before rare timepieces are stolen
Aspecta nabs $3.5M to build AI-vetted coder profiles
While LinkedIn is helpful for displaying people’s educational and professional achievements, there exists a world of self-taught tech talent whose skills are not so easily reflected on the networking site. Rather, their expertise is hidden in the lines of code they write. Aspecta is trying to fill that gap by providing an AI-powered profile builder […]
Aspecta nabs $3.5M to build AI-vetted coder profiles by Rita Liao originally published on TechCrunch
Android 13 could soon allow you to transfer eSIM profiles on Pixel phones
Instagram Debuts Group Profiles, Twitter-Like ‘Notes’ Feature for Sharing Text and Emojis
Notes can be shared by going to the top of the inbox, selecting followers or people on the Close Friends List, and then writing and sharing a note. Notes will show at the top of the inbox for 24 hours, and replies will be displayed as DMs.
During testing, we learned that people liked having a lightweight, easy way to share what’s on their mind and start conversations. From asking for recommendations to sharing what they’re up to, Notes give people a casual and spontaneous way to express themselves and connect with each other.
Instagram will also soon be implementing Group Profiles, which will allow multiple users to share posts and stories through a dedicated, shared profile.
Candid Stories are in testing as well, with Instagram aiming to add BeReal-like functionality. Candid Stories are only visible to those who also share their own Candid, and it is meant to be used to “share what you’re doing right now.” Instagram will send daily notifications to post a Candid, unless the setting is disabled.
Notes are rolling out today, while Candid Stories are in testing and will be available for some users. Group Profiles are set to come out in the near future.
This article, “Instagram Debuts Group Profiles, Twitter-Like ‘Notes’ Feature for Sharing Text and Emojis” first appeared on MacRumors.com
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Facebook To Remove Several Information Fields From Profiles, Including Religious and Political Views
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Facebook will remove political and religious views from profiles on December 1st
Your Facebook page will say less about you in a few weeks. After an early sighting by consultant Matt Navarra, Meta has confirmed that it’s removing addresses, “interested in” (read: sexual orientation), political views and religion from Facebook profiles as of December 1st. The move is meant to make Facebook “easier to navigate and use,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch. If you’ve filled out any of these fields, you’ll get a notification about the change.
Other details you provide, such as your contact information and relationship status, will persist. You can download a copy of your Facebook data before December 1st if you’re determined to preserve it, and you still have control over who can see the remaining profile content.
Facebook is removing religious views and ‘interested in’ info from profiles from 1 December 2022 pic.twitter.com/SKjSrtwUwm
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) November 16, 2022
The move won’t have much practical impact on usability beyond reducing scrolling in the “contact and basic info” section. It may reflect changing attitudes toward privacy, however. Facebook included these sections in the early days of social networking, when users more readily shared their more sensitive details (MySpace, anyone?). Now, however, privacy is a major concern — Meta itself has been more interested in privacy in recent years, focusing on private chats and greater security. People may be less inclined to share info on profiles in an era when online stalking and harassment are all too common.
How to create multiple profiles for your Facebook account
Fake CISO Profiles On LinkedIn Target Fortune 500s
Again, we don’t know much about who or what is behind these profiles, but in August the security firm Mandiant (recently acquired by Google) told Bloomberg that hackers working for the North Korean government have been copying resumes and profiles from leading job listing platforms LinkedIn and Indeed, as part of an elaborate scheme to land jobs at cryptocurrency firms. None of the profiles listed here responded to requests for comment (or to become a connection).
LinkedIn could take one simple step that would make it far easier for people to make informed decisions about whether to trust a given profile: Add a “created on” date for every profile. Twitter does this, and it’s enormously helpful for filtering out a great deal of noise and unwanted communications. The former CISO Mason said LinkedIn also could experiment with offering something akin to Twitter’s verified mark to users who chose to validate that they can respond to email at the domain associated with their stated current employer. Mason said LinkedIn also needs a more streamlined process for allowing employers to remove phony employee accounts. He recently tried to get a phony profile removed from LinkedIn for someone who falsely claimed to have worked for his company. In a statement provided to KrebsOnSecurity, LinkedIn said its teams were actively working to take these fake accounts down. “We do have strong human and automated systems in place, and we’re continually improving, as fake account activity becomes more sophisticated,” the statement reads. “In our transparency report we share how our teams plus automated systems are stopping the vast majority of fraudulent activity we detect in our community — around 96% of fake accounts and around 99.1% of spam and scam.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.