Security News

X fixes URL blunder that could enable convincing social media phishing campaigns
2024-04-10 10:37

Your profile can be used to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests. Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services, possible interests and personal aspects.

AI and the Evolution of Social Media
2024-03-19 11:05

There is a lot we can learn about social media's unregulated evolution over the past decade that directly applies to AI companies and technologies. These lessons can help us avoid making the same mistakes with AI that we did with social media.

5 Best VPNs for Social Media in 2024 (Free & Paid VPNs)
2024-03-07 16:42

VPNs change your IP address location and encrypt your online traffic, letting your business make the most out of social media platforms without worrying about access challenges. In this article, we take a look at the five best VPNs for social media.

IP address X-posure now a feature on Musk's social media thing
2024-03-05 16:18

Video and audio calling features for X Premium users added last year to Elon Musk's version of Twitter have been expanded to everyone on the platform, and we're warning Reg readers yet again to disable the feature - this time because it appears to expose user IP addresses. X even admits that its audio and video calling exposes user IPs on the help page for the feature.

Australian Tax Office probed 150 staff over social media refund scam
2024-02-14 04:45

The extent of the scam was revealed on Monday in an audit of the ATO's management and oversight of fraud control arrangements for the Goods and Services Tax - Australia's equivalent of a value-added or sales tax. The scam promoted in online ads detailed a means of securing a loan from the ATO - an outright lie, as Australian tax authorities are not notably more generous than others around the world.

$2.7 billion lost to social media scams since 2021
2023-10-09 10:46

Scams originating on social media have accounted for $2.7 billion in reported losses since 2021, more than any other contact method, according to the Federal Trade Commission. In a new data spotlight, the FTC also takes a deep dive into social media scam trends in the first half of 2023.

FTC warns of ‘staggering’ losses to social media scams since 2021
2023-10-06 17:07

The Federal Trade Commission says Americans have lost at least $2.7 billion to social media scams since 2021, with the actual number likely many times larger due to severe under-reporting. "Reported losses to scams on social media during the same period hit a staggering $2.7 billion, far higher than any other method of contact," said Emma Fletcher, a Senior Data Researcher at the FTC. "And because the vast majority of frauds are not reported, this figure reflects just a small fraction of the public harm."

CISA barred from coordinating with social media sites to police misinformation
2023-10-04 18:15

The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has modified a ruling from last month to add the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to a list of US government entities prohibited from working with social media firms to curtail the spread of misinformation. In other words, stopping CISA from asking social media sites to restrict the reach of misinformation would interrupt the bulk of the Biden administration's moderation requests.

ICO calls on social media firms to protect user's data from scraping
2023-08-25 16:28

UK's Information Commissioner's Office, together with eleven data protection and privacy authorities from around the world, have published a statement calling social media platforms to up their protections against data scrapers. Data scraping is the process of extracting large amounts of publicly available data from websites using automated tools such as bots, collecting information that users have published on that platform.

ICO calls social media firms to protect people's data from scraping
2023-08-25 16:28

UK's Information Commissioner's Office, together with eleven data protection and privacy authorities from around the world, have published a statement calling social media platforms to up their protections against data scrapers. Data scraping is the process of extracting large amounts of publicly available data from websites using automated tools such as bots, collecting information that users have published on that platform.