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1/ Today we announced three CIB takedowns linked to Russian actors — all three had very limited global following, and even more minimal following in the US. But we know that networks like these can pivot in the the weeks to come, so we’ll stay vigilant. https://t.co/O7xzGFDrOh
— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) September 24, 2020
Today saw a massive takedown of #Russia-linked misinformation platforms -- timed before the U.S. election, a good deal of the targeted content related to #Syria.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) September 24, 2020
Check out this super insightful @benimmo thread: https://t.co/J8G3eBFw79
If this happens, the story is the LEAK, not the documents. https://t.co/jUDzd149Tk
— Ed Bott (@edbott) September 24, 2020
BREAKING: Multiple platforms took down assets from various Russian info ops today.
— Ben Nimmo (@benimmo) September 24, 2020
The ops did *not* primarily target the US election. Much more on RU strategic concerns.
@Facebook kicked this off. Reports by @Graphika_NYC and @DFRLab to follow.
https://t.co/psr6sqWFnY
Our report highlights new fake personas commenting on the Syrian conflict, ops focused on the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the Kuril Islands, and more across platforms and throughout 2013-2020 (!).
— Camille François (@camillefrancois) September 25, 2020
? Also in digestible format in @benimmo’s great thread: https://t.co/P9pGAJL2gg
Here is Facebook’s explanation of their takedown today https://t.co/TrMsts5Yh6
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) September 24, 2020
@Graphika_NYC has posted their detailed report. I gotta say, I'm jealous of their naming scheme when held up against our dry, academic titles. https://t.co/uP4VhJtBwI
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) September 24, 2020
Ben is right, now is the time to get ready for a hack-and-leak dump. Several groups with access to raw intel are pretty heavily hinting that recent Russian activity might be in preparation for a document dump.https://t.co/VB7Dbe3n5S
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) September 24, 2020
This is such an important point, and media are the front-line targets. When SIO did an analysis of prior GRU activity (much of it topically identical to today’s takedown) our key takeaway was the extent to which this attack vector remains: https://t.co/mzy2ThrffC https://t.co/QBVxVsfDoa
— Renee DiResta (@noUpside) September 24, 2020
What could Facebook see that would hint towards a hack and leak? The ultimate target of such an operation is the media, but the mechanism to reach out to the media to groom them and provide stolen documents is often social media. One output from that:https://t.co/mwgE9a1sCT
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) September 24, 2020
Our team at FB saw such activity in 2016 and reported it to the FBI. The best (but highly redacted) explanation of what this looked like is in the SSCI report, starting on page 183. The Facebook post indicates that this might be happening again.https://t.co/jpyLjcxUWC
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) September 24, 2020
So much of the Russian fake news production is focused on Syria. Disturbing but not surprising. https://t.co/o16gOelnLt
— Elizabeth Tsurkov (@Elizrael) September 24, 2020
Worth media outlets (re)thinking through now what happens if a big hack-and-leak operation hits in the next few weeks https://t.co/1oHmOIzmcj
— Ben Smith (@benyt) September 24, 2020
NEW: With an eye on election interference, Facebook scrubs networks of phony Russian accounts https://t.co/yNGQabnBzq
— Sean Lyngaas (@snlyngaas) September 24, 2020
On Thursday, Facebook removed a network of Russian propaganda assets engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior including some associated with Russian intelligence services. The network amplified the Strategic Culture Foundation. https://t.co/hGHhpEROx6
— DFRLab (@DFRLab) September 24, 2020
==Short thread on Twitter disinfo==
— Bob From Brockley ? (@bobfrombrockley) September 25, 2020
I had a brief look at the accounts who were interacting with "Pam Spenser", now exposed by @camillefrancois et al of @Graphika_NYC as fake journalist created by Russian intelligence agents to amplify pro-Russian https://t.co/wxhdUn0qK9 https://t.co/ELLjajwNh8
? Today we are launching a report detailing the takedown of multiple cross-platform information operations by Russian military intelligence groups: “GRU and the Minions:” https://t.co/wt1cUroC6I
— Camille François (@camillefrancois) September 24, 2020
For full details, here's the @Graphika_NYC report. https://t.co/xxQXjFAfBG
— Ben Nimmo (@benimmo) September 24, 2020
My smart colleagues at @Graphika_NYC - @benimmo, @realShawnEib, @Lea_Ronzaud, and @camillefrancois - did a thing and there's a pun. You should check it out!https://t.co/LhoVzsS8wQ
— Joseph Carter (@Joseph___Carter) September 24, 2020