In March, Microsoft confirmed that Russian government hackers known as Midnight Blizzard (or APT29) had broken into its systems with the goal of stealing various kinds of information, including data on Microsoft customers. Months later, Microsoft is still in the process of notifying its affected customers, and it looks like the process isn’t going very […]
The ‘vote Trump’ spam that hit Bluesky in May came from decentralized rival Nostr
Decentralized social networks aren’t immune to botnet-driven spam, as a recent spam attack on Bluesky demonstrates. Earlier this month, a flood of posts reading “remember to always vote Trump” showed up on Bluesky’s network posted by accounts with random names and default avatars. The spam didn’t originate on Bluesky, though. Instead, it reached Bluesky by […]
Truecaller adds a new AI feature to detect and block more spam calls
Caller ID app Truecaller today blocks between 38 and 40 billion spam calls annually for its 374 million+ users. Now, in hopes of getting more people to sign on to its premium tiers, it’s turning up the dials on its filtering tech. A new “Max” update for Android premium subscribers uses AI to block every […]
Discord took no action against server that coordinated costly Mastodon spam attacks
Over the weekend, hackers targeted federated social networks like Mastodon to carry out ongoing spam attacks that were organized on Discord, and conducted using Discord applications. But Discord has yet to remove the server where the attacks are facilitated, and Mastodon community leaders have been unable to reach anyone at the company. “The attacks were […]