Brian Krebs reported that X (formerly known as Twitter) started automatically changing twitter.com links to x.com links. The problem is: (1) it changed any domain name that ended with “twitter.com,” and (2) it only changed the link’s appearance (anchortext), not the underlying URL. So if …

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. A decade ago, social media was celebrated for sparking democratic uprisings in the Arab world and beyond. Now front pages are splashed with stories of social platforms’ role in misinformation, business conspiracy, malfeasance, and risks to mental health. In a 2022 survey, Americans …

You can find them by searching for OpenAI chatbot warning messages, like: “I’m sorry, I cannot provide a response as it goes against OpenAI’s use case policy.” I hadn’t thought about this before: identifying bots by searching for distinctive bot phrases. [...]

Enlarge Google-owned security firm Mandiant spent several hours trying to regain control of its account on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday after an unknown scammer hijacked it and used it to spread a link that attempted to steal cryptocurrency from people who clicked on it. “We are …

Social networks are constantly battling inauthentic bot accounts that send direct messages to users promoting scam cryptocurrency investment platforms. What follows is an interview with a Russian hacker responsible for a series of aggressive crypto spam campaigns that recently prompted several large Mastodon communities to temporarily halt new registrations …

Feature allows users to set a list of friends and post tweets that only they are supposed to be able to read A privacy breach at Twitter published tweets that were never supposed to be seen by anyone but the poster’s closest friends to the site at large …

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images ) Twitter announced Friday that as of March 20, it will only allow its users to secure their accounts with SMS-based two-factor authentication if they pay for a Twitter Blue subscription. Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, requires users to log in with a username and …

In this week’s newsletter: The social media network is putting its APIs – the under-praised tool that keeps the internet as we know it going – behind a paywall. And the ramifications are huge Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up here APIs may not seem like …

Enlarge (credit: Rosie Struve; Getty Images) After reports at the end of 2022 that hackers were selling data stolen from 400 million Twitter users, researchers now say that a widely circulated trove of email addresses linked to about 200 million users is likely a refined version of the larger …

Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison among politicians and celebrities whose details were in sample of allegedly hacked data published online The former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison appears to have been caught up in a leak of partial data on 400 million Twitter users, along with celebrities including …

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) As Elon Musk critics flee from Twitter, Mastodon seems to be the most common replacement. In the last month, the number of monthly active users on Mastodon has rocketed more than threefold, from about 1 million to 3.5 million, while total number of users …

Twitter is having intermittent problems with its two-factor authentication system: Not all users are having problems receiving SMS authentication codes, and those who rely on an authenticator app or physical authentication token to secure their Twitter account may not have reason to test the mechanism. But users have been …

People are trying to dig up dirt on Peiter Zatko, better known as Mudge. For the record, I have not been contacted. I’m not sure if I should feel slighted. [...]

Phishers are enjoying remarkable success using text messages to steal remote access credentials and one-time passcodes from employees at some of the world’s largest technology companies and customer support firms. A recent spate of SMS phishing attacks from one cybercriminal group has spawned a flurry of breach disclosures …

Peiter Zatko, aka Mudge, has filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC against Twitter, claiming that they violated an eleven-year-old FTC settlement by having lousy security. And he should know; he was Twitter’s chief security officer until he was fired in January. The Washington Post has the scoop …

Peiter Zatko, former security chief, brought allegations of widespread security threats and spam concerns against the company New whistleblower allegations of widespread security threats and spam concerns at Twitter may give Elon Musk ammunition in his fight to back out of a deal to buy the company. On Tuesday …

When KrebsOnSecurity recently explored how cybercriminals were using hacked email accounts at police departments worldwide to obtain warrantless Emergency Data Requests (EDRs) from social media firms and technology providers, many security experts called it a fundamentally unfixable problem. But don’t tell that to Matt Donahue, a former FBI …

On Tuesday, KrebsOnSecurity warned that hackers increasingly are using compromised government and police department email accounts to obtain sensitive customer data from mobile providers, ISPs and social media companies. Today, one of the U.S. Senate’s most tech-savvy lawmakers said he was troubled by the report and is …

In a Twitter discussion last week on ransomware attacks, KrebsOnSecurity noted that virtually all ransomware strains have a built-in failsafe designed to cover the backsides of the malware purveyors: They simply will not install on a Microsoft Windows computer that already has one of many types of virtual keyboards …

Security Boulevard recently listed the “Top-21 Cybersecurity Experts You Must Follow on Twitter in 2021.” I came in at #7. I thought that was pretty good, especially since I never tweet. My Twitter feed just mirrors my blog. (If you are one of the 134K people who read me …

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter this week all took steps to crack down on users involved in trafficking hijacked user accounts across their platforms. The coordinated action seized hundreds of accounts the companies say have played a major role in facilitating the trade and often lucrative resale of compromised …