Tag: Disinformation
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The “Hot Dog” Hack: How a BBC Reporter Fooled Google and ChatGPT with a Single Blog Post
BBC technology reporter Thomas Germain recounted in an interview how he personally tested the ease with which ubiquitous AI services can be coerced into accepting sheer fabrication as absolute truth, subsequently parroting it in their responses. A couple of weeks prior to the experiment, Germain received a tip: manipulating the outputs of ChatGPT, Google Gemini,…
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Cheap Bots for Sale: Cambridge Study Reveals SMS Verification Bypassed for Just 8 Cents
One of the key defensive barriers against the creation of fake online accounts has proven alarmingly fragile—capable of being bypassed for just a few cents. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have found that SMS-based identity verification, widely used by social networks and other online services, can be circumvented at scale through the use of…
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Deepfake Scandal Disrupts South Korean Assembly After Lawmaker Uses AI Video of Officials to Warn of AI Misuse
A scandal erupted in South Korea’s National Assembly after Kim Jang-kyun, a lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party, presented a deepfake video depicting senior government officials during a parliamentary session. The AI-generated clip appeared to show a “secret meeting” between Vice Minister Bae Kyung-hoon and former Judicial Committee Chairman Lee Chun-suk. According to Kim,…
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Hacktivist Group TwoNet Exposed: Fabricated Water Utility Attack After Breaching OT Honeypot with Default Credentials
Forescout specialists recorded a targeted intrusion in September against a honeypot simulating the control system of a water-treatment facility. A newly emerged hacktivist collective calling itself TwoNet claimed responsibility; the group operates within an ecosystem increasingly associated with attacks on industrial infrastructure. Its members accessed the operator interface, altered configurations, removed data sources, and disrupted…
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Fake Bounty on Notorious Ransomware Gang Exposed in Hoax Campaign
In recent days, Telegram channels and news outlets have been actively circulating reports of an alleged Europol bounty of $50,000 for information leading to the capture of two leaders of the notorious ransomware group Qilin. The posts claimed that the gang’s “core administrators,” operating under the aliases Haise and XORacle, were responsible for coordinating affiliates…
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Google Removes 11,000+ Accounts in Q2 2025 Crackdown on Coordinated Influence Operations
Google has released the findings of its investigations into coordinated influence operations conducted across its platforms during the second quarter of 2025. In total, more than 11,000 accounts and assets were removed, including 10,910 YouTube channels, along with advertising accounts, blogs, and domains that violated platform policies. The largest share of takedowns was linked to…