Russian Troll Account Remained on Twitter 11 Months After Notice

Twitter took 11 months to close a Russian troll account that claimed to speak for the Tennessee Republican Party even after that state's real GOP notified the social media company that the account was a fake. The account, @TEN_GOP, was enormously popular, amassing at least 136,000 followers between its creation in November 2015 and when Twitter shut it down in August, according to a snapshot of the account captured by the Internet Archive just before the account was "permanently suspended."

McCain Joins Democrats to Support Internet 'Honest Ads Act'

Sen. John McCain has become the first Republican to sign on to a draft bill from Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner that would increase the transparency of political advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook. The proposed legislation, the Honest Ads Act, is an offshoot of the investigations into Russia's use of Facebook, Twitter and Google to influence the 2016 election. 

Special Counsel Interviews Cybersecurity Researcher Tied to Trump

A cybersecurity researcher who described being recruited to vet hacked Hillary Clinton emails last year by a GOP operative tied to President Donald Trump's campaign team has been interviewed by the FBI's special counsel, Robert Mueller, Business Insider has learned. Mueller interviewed Matt Tait, a former information-security specialist at Britain's Government Communications Headquarters who tweets as @pwnallthethings, several weeks ago, said a source familiar with the matter.

North Korean Hacking Group Linked to $60M Theft from Taiwanese Bank

Lazarus, a hacking group linked to North Korea, may have been behind this month’s theft of $60 million from Taiwan’s Far Eastern International Bank, according to BAE Systems Plc researchers. The cyberattack, in which malware was used to steal the money through the international Swift banking network, bore “some of the hallmarks” of Lazarus, according to a BAE blog post.

Hackers Reportedly Cracked Microsoft Database on Software Bugs

Microsoft Corp’s secret internal database for tracking bugs in its own software was broken into by a highly sophisticated hacking group more than four years ago, according to five former employees, in only the second known breach of such a corporate database. The company did not disclose the extent of the attack to the public or its customers after its discovery in 2013, but the five former employees described it to Reuters in separate interviews.

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case on Email Stored Overseas

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to resolve a major privacy dispute between the Justice Department and Microsoft Corp. over whether prosecutors should get access to emails stored on company servers overseas. The justices will hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling last year preventing federal prosecutors from obtaining emails stored in Microsoft computer servers in Dublin, Ireland in a drug trafficking investigation.

North Korea's Cyber Program Called 'Instrument of Power'

Their track record is mixed, but North Korea’s army of more than 6,000 hackers is undeniably persistent, and undeniably improving, according to American and British security officials who have traced these attacks and others back to the North.Amid all the attention on Pyongyang’s progress in developing a nuclear weapon capable of striking the continental United States, the North Koreans have also quietly developed a cyberprogram that is stealing hundreds of millions of dollars and proving capable of unleashing global havoc.

Qualcomm Sues to Stop Sale, Manufacture of iPhones in China

Qualcomm Inc. filed lawsuits in China seeking to ban the sale and manufacture of iPhones in the country, the chipmaker’s biggest shot at Apple Inc. so far in a sprawling and bitter legal fight. The San Diego-based company aims to inflict pain on Apple in the world’s largest market for smartphones and cut off production in a country where most iPhones are made.

Twitter Deleted Tweets Useful to Investigators, Cybersecurity Officials Say

Twitter has deleted tweets and other user data of potentially irreplaceable value to investigators probing Russia’s suspected manipulation of the social media platform during the 2016 election, according to current and former government cybersecurity officials. One reason is Twitter’s aggressively pro-consumer privacy policies, which generally dictate that once any user revises or deletes their tweets, paid promotions or entire accounts, the company itself must do so as well.

Twitter CEO Vows Tougher Stance Against Abusive Speech

Twitter, facing pressure and an online boycott over its permissive attitude toward abusive and harassing speech, has decided to take a tougher stance, CEO Jack Dorsey said. In a series of tweets, Dorsey said the social media giant would announce new rules in the next few weeks restricting “unwanted sexual advances, nonconsensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups” and any post that “glorifies violence.”

Twitter Suspends Actress's Account After Weinstein Post with Phone Number

The actress Rose McGowan said in an Instagram post overnight that her Twitter account had been temporarily locked after a series of posts about Harvey Weinstein’s misconduct, including toward her. In a statement, a Twitter representative said Ms. McGowan’s tweets had violated the company’s privacy policy because one of them included a phone number.

Russian-Linked Campaign Used Pokemon Go to Exploit Racial Tensions

One Russian-linked campaign posing as part of the Black Lives Matter movement used Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and Pokémon Go and even contacted some reporters in an effort to exploit racial tensions and sow discord among Americans, CNN has learned. The campaign, titled "Don't Shoot Us," offers new insights into how Russian agents created a broad online ecosystem where divisive political messages were reinforced across multiple platforms, amplifying a campaign that appears to have been run from one source -- the shadowy, Kremlin-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency.

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Sandberg Says Facebook Will Work with Congressional Investigators

Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the company was committed to helping U.S. congressional investigators publicly release Russia-backed political ads that ran during the 2016 U.S. election. “Things happened on our platform in this election that should not have happened,” Sandberg said in an interview in Washington with Axios news that was broadcast on its website.

Lawmakers Plan to Release 3,000 Facebook Ads Linked to Russia

Leaders of the House Intelligence Committee said that they planned to make public the thousands of Facebook ads linked to Russia that appeared during the 2016 presidential election campaign, the first indication that the ads would be released. They said the 3,000 ads would probably be released after a Nov. 1 hearing on the role of social media platforms in Russia’s interference in the election.

Hacker Steals Information About Australia's Warplanes, Navy Ships

A mystery hacker who was given the alias of an Australian soap opera character has stolen sensitive information about Australia's warplanes and navy ships from a Defence subcontractor. About 30 gigabytes of data was stolen, including information on Australia's $17 billion Joint Strike Fighter program, and $4 billion P-8 surveillance plane project.

Russian Firms Acquire Microsoft Software Despite U.S. Sanctions

Software produced by Microsoft Corp has been acquired by state organizations and firms in Russia and Crimea despite sanctions barring U.S-based companies from doing business with them, official documents show. The acquisitions, registered on the Russian state procurement database, show the limitations in the way foreign governments and firms enforce the U.S. sanctions, imposed on Russia over its annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.

Twitter Reverses Decision to Block 'Inflammatory' Campaign Video

After Twitter blocked a campaign video ad from Rep. Marsha Blackburn, calling the ad “inflammatory” and claiming that it violated the company’s ad guidelines, the company has changed its mind. “While we initially determined that a small portion of the video used potentially inflammatory language, after reconsidering the ad in the context of the entire message, we believe that there is room to refine our policies around these issues. We have notified Rep. Blackburn's campaign of this decision," a Twitter spokesperson said.

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