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VOICE ARCHIVE

Thomas Rid

@ridt
38 posts
2025-06-23
It looks like *not* having AI integration in some products and platforms is turning into a competitive privacy and security feature—U.S. House of Representatives bans WhatsApp https://www.axios.com/...
2025-06-23 View on X
Axios

Source: the US House's CAO informed congressional staffers that WhatsApp is now banned on their government devices as the app is deemed “a high-risk to users”

The U.S. House's chief administrative officer informed congressional staffers Monday that messaging app WhatsApp …

2024-10-10
“Influence and Cyber Operations: An Update,” the new OpenAI threat intelligence report, out a few hours ago. The document is interesting for one specific reason that hasn't been mentioned in public reporting so far https://cdn.openai.com/...
2024-10-10 View on X
CNBC

OpenAI says it has disrupted 20+ operations and deceptive networks in 2024 so far that tried to use its models, including four that had election-related content

OpenAI is increasingly becoming a platform of choice for cyber actors looking to influence democratic elections across the globe.

2024-09-30
JUST OUT — September was a wild month for scholars of modern covert influence operations. No longer do we have to rely on a campaign's digital footprints alone. My first analysis of ~3K leaked internal files and fresh FBI evidence on “Doppelganger.” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ ...
2024-09-30 View on X
Foreign Affairs

An FBI affidavit and European media leaks show how Russia's Doppelganger disinformation project operated and give insights into the Kremlin's online tactics

The Country's Propagandists Target the West—but Mislead the Kremlin, Too  —  In early September, the infamous Russian disinformation project known … X: @b_novak , @ridt , @oajonsso...

This video was an internal production by the Social Design Agency, a disinformation firm in Moscow, produced in early August 2023, likely to be viewed by Vladimir Putin. Note the memo reproduced in the description, discussing the video. https://www.youtube.com/...
2024-09-30 View on X
Foreign Affairs

An FBI affidavit and European media leaks show how Russia's Doppelganger disinformation project operated and give insights into the Kremlin's online tactics

The Country's Propagandists Target the West—but Mislead the Kremlin, Too  —  In early September, the infamous Russian disinformation project known … X: @b_novak , @ridt , @oajonsso...

Caveats: the SDA leak is incomplete. We don't know what it does not include. The disinformation firm—unsurprisingly—also appears to have a liberal attitude towards facts and figures in its own internal documents, unsurprisingly. Not a new problem for historians of active measures
2024-09-30 View on X
Foreign Affairs

An FBI affidavit and European media leaks show how Russia's Doppelganger disinformation project operated and give insights into the Kremlin's online tactics

The Country's Propagandists Target the West—but Mislead the Kremlin, Too  —  In early September, the infamous Russian disinformation project known … X: @b_novak , @ridt , @oajonsso...

2022-06-17
Respect to whoever you are https://twitter.com/...
2022-06-17 View on X
Wired

Researchers connect an Indian police agency to hackers who planted evidence in 2018 on the PCs of human rights activists jailed on framed terrorism charges

Absolutely wild story that has it all: hacking, an extraordinary integrity attack, with forged and planted evidence, (ethical) leaking to help expose (unethical) law enforcement active measures — and hugely creative, collaborative threat hunting https://www.wired.com/...
2022-06-17 View on X
Wired

Researchers connect an Indian police agency to hackers who planted evidence in 2018 on the PCs of human rights activists jailed on framed terrorism charges

2022-04-08
Remarkably aggressive Belarusian covert action in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with KGB going as far as attempting to organize an actual rally against the Polish government in Warsaw under false pretenses https://twitter.com/...
2022-04-08 View on X
Washington Post

Meta disrupts covert influence operations by Belarus- and Russia-linked actors targeting Ukrainians, like hacking Ukrainian military staff's Facebook accounts

combining computer network exploitation with influence operations, CNE & active measures, in classic terminology (to be expected historically). Meta does an exceptionally good job ...

Meta's 1st Quarter 2022 Adversarial Threat Report is a remarkable document https://about.fb.com/...
2022-04-08 View on X
Washington Post

Meta disrupts covert influence operations by Belarus- and Russia-linked actors targeting Ukrainians, like hacking Ukrainian military staff's Facebook accounts

combining computer network exploitation with influence operations, CNE & active measures, in classic terminology (to be expected historically). Meta does an exceptionally good job ...

For about a decade now, adversaries have run integrated operations—combining computer network exploitation with influence operations, CNE & active measures, in classic terminology (to be expected historically). Meta does an exceptionally good job at reflecting this development. https://twitter.com/...
2022-04-08 View on X
Washington Post

Meta disrupts covert influence operations by Belarus- and Russia-linked actors targeting Ukrainians, like hacking Ukrainian military staff's Facebook accounts

combining computer network exploitation with influence operations, CNE & active measures, in classic terminology (to be expected historically). Meta does an exceptionally good job ...

Fascinating question, by the way, how large threat intel firms structure their teams and hiring practices to be able to optimize investigations of such integrated operational activity
2022-04-08 View on X
Washington Post

Meta disrupts covert influence operations by Belarus- and Russia-linked actors targeting Ukrainians, like hacking Ukrainian military staff's Facebook accounts

combining computer network exploitation with influence operations, CNE & active measures, in classic terminology (to be expected historically). Meta does an exceptionally good job ...

2022-04-07
This article makes a few good and creative points—but on balance it is unhelpful and a tad too academic: unnecessarily all-or-nothing, getting ahead of the evidence, lacking attention to detail https://t.co/aTIfEVYAJk
2022-04-07 View on X
Foreign Affairs

Russia's cyberattacks on government, military, logistics, and critical infrastructure have been its biggest military success to date in the war in Ukraine

but on balance it is unhelpful and a tad too academic: unnecessarily all-or-nothing, getting ahead of the evidence, lacking attention to detail https://t.co/aTIfEVYAJk

2021-09-17
The gloves are coming off. Good. https://www.reuters.com/...
2021-09-17 View on X
Reuters

Facebook says it will use the same tactics that it uses to remove bot networks to target real-user accounts engaging in tactics like mass reporting

but it's got bigger problems from its past James Farrell / SiliconANGLE : Facebook introduces new tactic to fight ‘social harm’ DW.COM : Facebook deletes accounts of German anti-lo...

Here we go: a network linked to Germany's fringe Querdenker movement is Facebook's proof-of-concept. Curious to see effects, reactions, next cases in line https://about.fb.com/... https://twitter.com/...
2021-09-17 View on X
Reuters

Facebook says it will use the same tactics that it uses to remove bot networks to target real-user accounts engaging in tactics like mass reporting

but it's got bigger problems from its past James Farrell / SiliconANGLE : Facebook introduces new tactic to fight ‘social harm’ DW.COM : Facebook deletes accounts of German anti-lo...

2021-05-14
Wow, Colonial reportedly paid close to $5M in cryptocurrency to a criminal group likely based in Russia (or Eastern Europe), already on Friday last week—this should significantly escalate the political pressure to finally counter the ransomware ecosystem https://www.bloomberg.com/...
2021-05-14 View on X
Bloomberg

Sources: Colonial paid ~$5M ransom in cryptocurrency within hours of the attack, but the hackers' decrypting tool was so slow that it had to use its own backups

this should significantly escalate the political pressure to finally counter the ransomware ecosystem https://www.bloomberg.com/... Barbara Malmet / @b52malmet : Maybe it was a fou...

2021-04-16
A lot to digest here. But one thing is already clear: today is a huge, precedent-setting day for attributing Russian intelligence operations, both cyber operations narrowly defined, but also influence operations and active measures. From the U.S. Treasury https://home.treasury.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
2021-04-16 View on X
MIT Technology Review

A look at Positive Technologies, a Russian cybersecurity firm sanctioned by the US, which sources say provides hacking tools and ops support for Russian spies

Washington has sanctioned Russian cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies.  US intelligence reports claim it provides hacking tools and runs operations for the Kremlin.

2021-02-13
This started like a nice crisp Friday morning and then I had to wade through another Bloomberg chip tale. If you did too, don't miss this razor-sharp thread > https://twitter.com/...
2021-02-13 View on X
Bloomberg

Sources: US investigators say hardware and firmware of Supermicro servers were tampered with as late as 2018, via chips with backdoors sending data to China

It has been two and a half years since … John Gruber / Daring Fireball : Bloomberg, at Long Last, Follows up on ‘The Big Hack’, and It's Nothing but a Pile of Sophistic Horseshit T...

2020-10-20
Today's GRU indictment is an incredible document. The Five Eyes intelligence communities, I would suspect, must have stunning visibility into Russian military intelligence operations if today's disclosures are considered dispensable https://www.justice.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
2020-10-20 View on X
ZDNet

DOJ charges six Russian GRU officers who were allegedly behind NotPetya, BlackEnergy blackouts in Ukraine, cyberattacks on Olympics and French election, more

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet :

2020-10-17
Relax. Twitter and Facebook are not the internet, and they're not the government. These are private companies. A little bit like a supermarket asking you to wear a mask. You can just stay out or leave if you don't like it.
2020-10-17 View on X
New York Times

Twitter says it is now letting the NY Post link be shared because the info had spread so widely that it can no longer be considered private

The latest change underlined how rapidly social media platforms are shifting their positions in the days leading up to the election.

Relax. Twitter and Facebook are not the internet, and they're not the government. These are private companies. A little bit like a supermarket asking you to wear a mask. You can just stay out or leave if you don't like it.
2020-10-17 View on X
Wall Street Journal

Senate Republicans say the Judiciary Committee will issue a subpoena to Jack Dorsey about Twitter's blocking of a New York Post article