Ex-Google CEO predicts 2024 election mess because of AI

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Ex-Google CEO predicts 2024 election mess because of AI
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Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes the social media inaction against increasing AI-generated fake content could turn the US 2024 election into a ” mess.” Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box, Schmidt urged social media companies to combat fake AI-generated content and misinformation proactively.

The US 2024 presidential election is approaching. And candidates from both Democratic and Republican parties will fight to enter the White House’s Oval Office. Misinformation and fake content is always a hot topic in the days leading to the election. The election for 2024 is no exception. After US Senators acted to evaluate the Big Tech layoffs in the upcoming election. An Ex-Google CEO is warning about the impact of AI and fake content generated by it.

Eric Schmidt, who served at Google from 2001 to 2011, said, “The 2024 elections are going to be a mess because social media is not protecting us from falsely generated AI.” The tech billionaire added that the platforms are still working on the problem, but nothing has been solved yet. Additionally, he said the safety groups on social media companies are getting smaller instead of getting larger to combat misinformation.

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns about the impact of AI on the US 2024 election

Eric Schmidt already warned about the dangers of AI’s rapid development and lack of regulations. He recently labeled AI as an “existential risk” that could even be used for killing people. Schmidt also said that misinformation is a short-term danger to AI.

As the former CEO of Google and executive chairman of parent company Alphabet, Schmidt also reacted to YouTube’s recent move to allow users to question the validity of the 2020 election. He said social media platforms should allow “free speech for humans, not computers.” Google-owned YouTube recently announced it would “stop removing content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in the 2020 elections.”

It remains to be seen what plans social media platforms have to battle fake AI-generated content and misinformation during the 2024 election. Lawmakers believe the layoffs could negatively impact the platform’s ability to deal with false content. The US senators also asked Meta, Google, and Twitter to see if they need to hire more people for their content moderation groups.


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Facebook and Instagram with new parental tools to enhance teen safety

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Facebook and Instagram with new parental tools to enhance teen safety
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Today’s teens are digital natives in an Internet-centric world. They experience the benefits of online exploration, self-expression, and staying informed, but also encounter negative experiences like bullying and harassment. In a move to prioritize the safety and well-being of young users, Meta has unveiled a range of new parental control tools across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.Meta’s Family Center will offer new parental tools, featuring a hub in Messenger for parents to oversee their teen’s online activities. The tools also enable blocking unwanted messages on Messenger and Instagram to prevent harmful interactions and send reminders to teens to take breaks from their online engagements.

These newly introduced tools grant parents or guardians access to their teen’s privacy and safety settings, enabling them to monitor changes in the Messenger contact list and assess the amount of time spent on the app. Parents will also receive notifications when their teen reports someone.

If, for example, your teen reports someone, they can choose whether or not to notify you by sending a notification. And if you wonder how to react, Meta’s Education Hub is available to parents and provides guidance on addressing issues and supporting their child in the best possible way.

In addition to the parental control tools, Meta is implementing notifications to alert teens when they have spent 20 minutes on Facebook, encouraging them to set daily time limits, which can also be set by the parent. For Instagram users, the company is exploring a new feature that prompts teens to close the app if they have been scrolling through Reels late at night.

Given that teenagers spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes per day in front of screens, this feature might just be what all other online platforms should have.While Facebook has long provided parental controls for its Messenger Kids platform, the new tools are specifically designed for the main Messenger app, catering to parents with teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18.

It is important to note that using these parental control tools requires mutual consent and awareness between the parent and the teenager. Either the parent or the teen must initiate an invitation to enable the tools.

The new parental controls will be launched in the US, the UK, and Canada. However, Meta has expressed its commitment to expanding the availability of these tools to other regions across the globe. And this initial batch of parental supervision tools might be just the beginning, as Meta plans to introduce additional features and enhancements over the next year.


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Pilot Logins of American and Southwest Airlines Stolen

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Pilot Logins of American and Southwest Airlines Stolen
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American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, two significant US-based aviation companies, have announced data breaches that have impacted their Pilot Credentials.

Pilot Credentials, a third party, manages various airlines’ pilot application and recruiting websites, including Southwest Airlines.

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The Pilot Credentials issue, which only affected the third-party vendor’s systems and had no effect on the airlines’ networks or systems, was disclosed to both airlines on May 3.

The Findings Of The Data Security Incident

On April 30, an unauthorized person accessed Pilot Credentials’ systems and stole files comprising data offered by a few applicants in the pilot and cadet recruiting process.

Southwest immediately launched an inquiry and collaborated with the third-party vendor to learn more and respond to the problem. In particular, no networks or systems of the Southwest were impacted or compromised.

According to a third-party vendor, an unauthorized user gained access to its systems on or around April 30, 2023, and took certain data that had been given to them by some pilot applicants.

American Airlines and Southwest revealed that a total of 5745 pilots and applicants were impacted by the data breach, while the Office of the Attorney General for Maine received breach notifications from 3009 individuals.

“Our investigation determined that the data involved contained some of your personal information, such as your name and Social Security number, driver’s license number, passport number, date of birth, Airman Certificate number, and other government-issued identification number(s),” American Airlines said.

The airlines will now drive all pilot and cadet applicants to self-managed internal portals, even though there is no proof that the pilots’ personal information was intentionally targeted or exploited for fraud or identity theft.

“We are no longer utilizing the vendor, and, moving forward, Pilot applicants are being directed to an internal portal managed by Southwest,” Southwest Airlines.

Overview of Other Breaches

American Airlines has recently faced several issues, including this most recent data breach. Over 1,708 customers and team employees were impacted by a new breach that the firm announced in September 2022.

This breach happened due to a phishing assault that affected multiple staff email accounts in July 2022.

Additionally, in March 2021, American Airlines had a data breach after the global leader in aviation information technology, SITA, disclosed that hackers had accessed its servers and obtained unauthorized access to the Passenger Service System (PSS) utilized by many airlines globally.

Notably, the company has a massive network covering more than 50 countries and employs more than 120,000 people. Southwest Airlines, with operations in 11 nations. Furthermore, it employs almost 70,000 people and serves over 121 airports.

The security and privacy of the information belonging to its stakeholders are priorities for both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

The airline industry has to be diligent in protecting sensitive data and staying ahead of developing cyber threats while investigations into these breaches are ongoing.

AI-based email security measures Protect your business From Email Threats! – Request a Free Demo.


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TikTok is killing off “TikTok Now”

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TikTok is killing off “TikTok Now”
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Last year, an app called BeReal came out, and it made some waves in the mobile app market. Not too long after, TikTok developed its own take on that app called TikTok Now. Well, according to The Verge (via Engadget), the company is officially killing off TikTok Now.

BeReal was an app that had a vendetta against Instagram. Seen as the antithesis of Instagram, BeReal challenged you to take a picture of yourself at a moment’s notice and with no preparation. This mentality contrasted the norm where people would gussy themselves up, pick the right lighting, strike a pose, and choose a filter before even hitting the shutter button.

BeReal challenges you to, well, be REAL. A contrarian idea, BeReal was able to gain some serious traction on the competitive social media landscape. In fact, it was the iPhone app of the year in 2022. That says A LOT because it was up against the likes of TikTok and other popular apps.

TikTok is killing off TikTok Now

It didn’t take long before BeReal had some real emulators. TikTok developed its own clone service called TikTok Now. As the name suggests, you’re challenged to take a photo or video with both your front and back camera. You’ll get notifications to do so, and these notifications could come at random points in the day.

While it seems that everything that TikTok does is a money-making machine, this idea is on its way out. Screenshots from several users show an update in the app that will remove the TikTok Now feature.

At this point, we don’t know when this feature will be dropped. One thing we know is a possible reason for this discontinuation. It’s not just that TikTok Now was losing traction, but BeReal was also losing traction.

The app has been on the decline over the past several months. While it was crowned app of the year, people most likely just got tired of it. It’s an interesting idea and very refreshing. However, people probably just tried it out, enjoyed it for a bit, and then went back to their usual social media posts.

Since people are getting tired of this type of social media sharing, TikTok Now also saw a massive decline. Now, it’s on the chopping block only nine months after it launched.


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There is a new malware scam targeting WhatsApp users

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There is a new malware scam targeting WhatsApp users
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WhatsApp may be widely known as one of the world’s top encrypted messaging apps; but the Meta-owned platform has not been without its share of privacy issues. In the last few years, WhatsApp has fallen prey to malware scams, data leaks and other security breaches. Now, there appears to be a new scam out there targeting users with the promise of a new version of the app.

“Pink WhatsApp” is the latest malware scam to target WhatsApp users

According to 91mobiles, users of the messaging app have been receiving links prompting them to install what may seem like a version of the app but is actually malware. Dubbed “Pink WhatsApp” or “WhatsApp Pink,” the scam is suitably named so because it falsely advertises a spiffy new pink-themed version of the app. 

Along with a more customized interface, the scam also tries to enhance users with promises such as enhanced security and privacy measures. But, sadly, this is not the case.  In reality, clicking the malicious link results in malware being installed to your phone. This can then spread to other users you chat with. In addition to flooding your app with pesky ads. As a worst case scenario, it can allow hackers to gain access to your phone and its data.

The scam was also confirmed by Mumbai Police, which tweeted a warning to users of the app. However, what’s interesting is that “Pink WhatsApp” is nothing new as the scam appears to have started in April 2021. Once again rearing its ugly head.

Regardless, users are cautioned to remain vigilant of suspicious links. While also avoiding forwarding such links, and to only install app updates from the Google Play Store or App Store.

After all, this wasn’t the first scam to hit WhatsApp users. As another malware scam targeting WhatsApp backups made the rounds mere weeks ago. And it definitely won’t be the last that users can expect to see.


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TikTok adds content filtering tool to Family Pairing

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TikTok adds content filtering tool to Family Pairing
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TikTok is bringing one of the features that’s been available since last year, content filtering, to Family Pairing. Ever since the feature was released back in July 2022, the content filtering tool that allows TikTok users to filter out videos with words or hashtags was among the most popular features among the app’s users.Today, TikTok announced that parents will now finally be able to take advantage of content filtering tool since it will be added to Family Pairing. But this is not just a traditional port, as TikTok says it has partnered with experts to be able to adapt the content filtering tool to Family Pairing.

It was very important for TikTok to strike “a balance between enabling families to choose the best experience for their needs while also ensuring we respect young people’s rights to participate in the online world.” On that note, the feature has been implemented in a way that allows teens to view by default the keywords their parents have added.

These keywords will be represented in the app as a personalized layer on top of the Content Levels system, which is meant to prevent content with more mature or complex themes from reaching audiences between ages 13-17.

The new content filtering feature is available to TikTok parents via the Family Pairing starting today, but make sure to update the app to the latest version.


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Seizure of EncroChat Enables Police Access to 115 Million Conversations

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Seizure of EncroChat Enables Police Access to 115 Million Conversations
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The global operation not only paved the way for authorities to seize €900 million but also resulted in arresting 6,558 people worldwide.

In July 2020, Europol, with the assistance of other law enforcement agencies, took down EncroChat, the infamous European encrypted communication provider. Now, the agency has shared more details on the successful operation.

Europol announced on Tuesday that the operation has resulted in a staggering 6,558 arrests worldwide and the seizure of €900 million in illicit criminal proceeds.

Following the closure of EncroChat, French and Dutch authorities initiated a joint investigation that intercepted and analyzed over 115 million conversations carried out by approximately 60,000 users on the platform. Now, almost three years later, the valuable information obtained from this extensive digital correspondence has yielded remarkable results.

The operation has led to the arrest of 6,558 suspects, including 197 high-value targets, dealing a significant blow to organized crime networks. Convicted criminals involved in these illicit activities are facing a total of 7,134 years of imprisonment.

Furthermore, authorities have successfully confiscated €739.7 million in cash, while freezing an additional €154.1 million in assets and bank accounts linked to criminal enterprises.

The impact of this operation goes beyond financial repercussions. Law enforcement agencies have managed to seize a staggering amount of illicit substances, including 30.5 million pills of chemical drugs, 103.5 tonnes of cocaine, 163.4 tonnes of cannabis, and 3.3 tonnes of heroin. Additionally, the operation resulted in the seizure of 971 vehicles, 83 boats, and 40 planes, which were being used to facilitate criminal activities.

According to Europol’s press release, authorities have also taken possession of 271 estates or homes used by criminals as hideouts or operational bases. Furthermore, the operation led to the confiscation of 923 weapons, including firearms, along with 21,750 rounds of ammunition and 68 explosives, significantly reducing the potential threat posed by these criminal organizations.

Seizure of EncroChat Enables Police Access to 115 Million Conversations

EncroChat, the encrypted phone network that was dismantled, had become a haven for organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, and even acts of violence, including murders.

Europol previously stated that user activity on the platform was particularly concentrated in countries known as source and destination points for the cocaine and cannabis trade, as well as in prominent money laundering hubs.

The mobile devices provided by EncroChat were marketed as offering “perfect anonymity” to users, with features like automatic message deletion and remote erasure options. The phones were sold for approximately €1,000 each on the international market, with subscription plans offering worldwide coverage for €1,500 over six months, complete with 24/7 customer support.

Unbeknownst to the users, French and Dutch law enforcement agencies infiltrated the platform in early 2020, gaining invaluable insights into criminal groups and their modus operandi. The company’s servers, located in France, were subsequently taken down, effectively dismantling the criminal infrastructure.

This successful operation against EncroChat follows the dismantling of another encrypted communication service, Sky ECC, in March 2021. Furthermore, in June 2021, officials from the United States and Australia disclosed their involvement in running a covert encrypted chat service called ANoM (also known as AN0M) for nearly three years.

This operation intercepted 27 million messages exchanged between criminal gang members across the globe, further undermining the activities of these networks.

Press Conference on Encrochat

The crackdown on encrypted communication services demonstrates the determination of law enforcement agencies to disrupt criminal enterprises and safeguard communities from the damaging effects of organized crime. Europol, in collaboration with international partners, remains committed to tackling cybercriminals and ensuring a safer future for all.

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  3. Major Cybercrime Crackdown: Encrypted Messenger Exclu Seized
  4. Genesis Market’s Clearnet domain seized; Dark Web site still online
  5. Police Seize iSpoof Domains, UK’s largest bank call scam disrupted

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Anatsa Malware Spotted on Google Play Attack Banking Customers

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Anatsa Malware Spotted on Google Play Attack Banking Customers
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Anatsa Malware on Google Play

A fresh ongoing campaign spreads the Android banking Trojan known as Anatsa. New institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and German-speaking countries were hit by this wave of Anatsa malware.

Threat actors intend to steal credentials by authorizing customers in mobile banking applications and then engage in Device-Takeover Fraud (DTO) to begin fraudulent transactions.

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The attackers are distributing the malware through the Play Store, the official app store for Android, and it has already been installed over 30,000 times, claim researchers at ThreatFabric who have been monitoring the criminal activities.

“The focus of the ongoing campaign is banks from US, UK, and DACH, while the target list of the malware contains almost 600 financial applications from all over the world”, researchers said.

Anatsa capabilities
Capabilities of Anatsa Mobile Banking Trojan

Anatsa’s activities have been observed by ThreatFabric ever since it was founded in 2020. Over the years, the actor’s areas of interest have undergone several modifications, and target lists have been updated often.

Recently, this campaign has been observed to have an obvious shift towards targeting German-speaking banking institutions in the DACH area. The areas where the distribution droppers are released reflect this focus.

Reports mention that 3 additional German banking apps were added to Anatsa’s overlay target list with the launch of the new dropper. Likewise, compared to August 2022 of last year, there were over 90 new targeted applications. 

The players for Anatsa added targets from South Korea, Germany, Spain, Finland, and Singapore. Even if the droppers are not spread in all of these nations, it is clear that those areas are among the targets.

The trojan was installed over 300,000 times during a prior Anatsa campaign on Google Play in November 2021 by posing as PDF scanners, QR code scanners, Adobe Illustrator apps, and fitness tracker apps.

New Malvertising Operation

After a six-month break from spreading malware, threat actors started a new malvertising operation in March 2023, encouraging potential victims to download Anatsa dropper apps from Google Play.

The malicious apps still fall under the “office/productivity” category and disguise themselves as office suites, PDF viewers, and editing apps.

When Google received reports about the malicious app and removed it from the store, the attackers promptly reappeared by uploading a new dropper under a different pretense.

The apps in all five cases of the revealed malware droppers were initially submitted to Google Play in the clean form before being updated with malicious code, perhaps to get around Google’s rigorous code review procedure.

“Once the device is infected, Anatsa can collect sensitive information (credentials, credit card details, balance, and payment information) via overlay attacks and keylogging”, researchers said.

It has been observed that it is particularly difficult for banks’ anti-fraud systems to identify it as transactions are started from the same device that the targeted customers frequently use.

Finally, according to recent reports, Google Play removed the developers and deleted all of the discovered dangerous apps.

“AI-based email security measures Protect your business From Email Threats!” – Request a Free Demo.


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Scam Callers just got owned by this Chatbot

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Let’s face it, we all hate scam callers. These days, most of us don’t answer the phone unless we know who it is. Well, a group of cybersecurity experts in Australia have taken this to a whole new level. They are developing a chatbot that can impersonate a human and sit on the scam call, to waste the scammers time. Essentially giving the scammers a taste of their own medicine.

They are creating this chatbot system as a “honeypot” that will lure scammers into a 40-minute-long conversation, that will ultimately amount to nothing. Sound familiar? That’s basically what scammers do. The name of this Chatbot is Apate, and it’s still got a long way to go.

This is being done by researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, and professor Dali Kaafar said that “our model ties them up, wastes their time, and reduces the number of successful scams. We can disrupt their business model and make it much harder for them to make money.”

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The goal is to make the Chatbot smart enough to trick a scammer

The goal here is to trick these scammers into staying on the phone for a 40-minute conversation with the bot. Currently, the bot is only averaging about 5 minutes before the scammer hangs up. However, Kaafar has noted that “we found the bots react pretty nicely to some tricky situations that we were not expecting to get away with, with scammers asking for information that we didn’t train the bots for – but the bots are adapting and coming up with very believable responses.”

Could this be the future way to deal with scam calls? Probably not. As Kaafar mentions, it’s only a matter of time before the scam callers adopt AI to make it easier to get through these bots and call screeners like what Google has built into the Pixel. But for now, it is pretty fun to see the scammers getting scammed and their time wasted.


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Microsoft uncovers cryptojacking attacks affecting Linux-based devices

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Microsoft uncovers cryptojacking attacks affecting Linux-based devices
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Recent reports point out a cryptojacking attack that Microsoft has uncovered on some devices. Some of the devices that are prone to getting this attack are Linux-based and IoT devices. The attack is quite common within the crypto industry, and it pulls computer users against their will.

According to the reports, Microsoft has been able to spot this type of attack after some analysis. The report goes on to point out that Linux-based and IoT systems are a special target for the bad actors launching these attacks. This might seem odd considering that Microsoft doesn’t own the Linux OS or any of the IoT systems this attack is focusing on.

So why is Microsoft paying attention to an attack that isn’t affecting their systems? What exactly is this cryptojacking attack, and how does it impact systems? These might be a few questions on your mind regarding this topic and this article will answer them.

Quick delve into the cryptojacking attacks that Microsoft just uncovered

You might be wondering what cryptojacking is and what role it plays within the crypto industry. Well, cryptojacking is simply the act of taking over a computer and using it to mine cryptocurrencies. This mining process takes place without the users’ will, as the attackers break into the system using brute force.

Once an attacker is in the system, they then use it to mine cryptocurrency and get profit. The attacks are a combination of custom and open-source tools to attack Linux-based and IoT systems. These tools are used to hack into and take over a system for the sole purpose of mining cryptocurrencies.

Microsoft notes that this attack is affecting Linux-based and IoT devices, but still recognizes it as a threat. Despite it finding a niche with these systems, there might be a chance of it finding its way to Windows devices. Linux might be a prime choice for attackers since they can easily deploy a crypto mining distro.

This distro is unique to Linux and specializes in the mining of cryptocurrencies. Although this software is not on Windows devices, attackers might find a way to deploy it along with their attacks. For this reason, there is a need to be on guard against these cryptojacking attacks.

Users of Windows devices might need to up their security game to stay safe. Microsoft will also need to tighten their security to ensure that users stay safe. More information on this cryptojacking scam will be made available in the coming weeks.


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