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Algorithm Tries to Predict Terrorist Attacks

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It is not impossible to look for online indicators of terrorist propaganda in social media.

The discussion about terrorism made the front pages of most of the newspapers after the Orlando massacre. With the new algorithm that tries to predict terrorist attacks, now it becomes a topic to be debated in science magazines also.

Prior to his attack in Orlando, Omar Mateen was investigated by FBI on two occasions. His Facebook page contained references to the Islamic State and, reportedly, he used social media to look for pieces of information about the San Bernardino massacre, which took place in December 2015.

However, it is hard to predict a terrorist attack by simply checking the online activity of a single person. As President Obama already explained two days after the Orlando massacre, the movement of lone actors or small groups is very hard to foresee.

However, scientists claim, it is not impossible to look for online indicators of terrorist propaganda on social media. The experts developed their thesis around one social media platform, called Vkontakte. Unlike Facebook, Vkontakte does not require its users to log in with their real names. However, a phone number is requested during the registration process.

The project started a few years ago with the intent to monitor the social upheaval in Latin America (namely in Brazil and Venezuela). The idea to focus their attention on social media rather than the events happening in the real world came to them along with the Arab Uprising.

With Facebook becoming the main tool to communicate and organize protests, people realized that a closer look at the online algorithms might offer an accurate picture of the main trends in society.

This new algorithm that tries to predict terrorist attacks focuses mainly on the behavioral patterns of the users affiliated with pro-ISIS groups. The research team managed to find almost 200 pro-ISIS public groups on Vkontakte. To avoid moderators and hackers, the users reincarnate themselves each time their profile is hacked or shut down.

And this is how new small groups emerge. To efficiently prevent the aggregation of large, influential groups, counterterrorism agents need to track down small groups and shut them down before the distribution of radical propaganda escalates.

The trend that was noticed so far relates the rapid increase of such groups with an imminent attack. Such a pattern can be a reliable indicator that something may be going on.

However, the new algorithm that tries to predict terrorist attacks has no efficiency in the case of an assault organized by a small group. Because these groups do not leak information on social media, they leave no footprints that can be tracked down.

Online source: Wikipedia

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: Arab Uprising, Facebook, FBI, Latin America, Omar Mateen, social media, terrorist attacks, Vkontakte

US health insurer Anthem informs FBI of 80 million accounts hack

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US health insuring company Anthem Inc. on Wednesday informed its customers and employees about the severe cyber hack on its computers, leading to stealing of more than 80 million data.

“Anthem was the target of a very sophisticated external cyber attack. These attackers gained unauthorized access to Anthem’s IT system and have obtained personal information from our current and former members such as their names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data,” according to the company’s letter to its members.

The second largest American health insurer said that they have no evidence to support that the hack has targeted or compromised credit card or medical information, like test results, claims, or diagnostic codes.

The company, however, didn’t offer details on how the hackers breached into their systems or who were these cyber attackers.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that they were unaware of the Anthem breach and is probing into the matter.

Issuing a statement on Thursday, the probing agency said, “Individuals contacted by the company should take steps to monitor and safeguard their personally identifiable information and report any suspected instances of identity theft to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.”

The FBI also hailed Anthem for notifying the probing agency on time.

According to FBI, timely notification of any type of intrusion is very much required as there is huge possibility of cyber criminals quickly destroying critical evidence that are required for their identification by the law enforcement agencies.

Anthem said soon after it discovered the hack, it rushed into action to secure further vulnerability and contacted the FBI.

 

Filed Under: Financial News Tagged With: Anthem, Anthem  data hack, Anthem cyber attack, Anthem systems hack, FBI, US health insurer

Wikileaks protests over data sharing with FBI, writes to Google

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Launching a protest against search giant Google, open information group WikiLeaks wrote a letter to the company seeking clarification over why they took almost three years to disclose about the sharing of information, emails and other digital data belonging to three of WikiLeaks staffers to the US government.

WikiLeaks lawyer Michael Ratner sent a letter to Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt expressing disappointment over the revelation of the warrants to FBI in December.

According to reports, Google had received a secret search warrant from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March 2012 seeking information about three Wikileaks employees. But the search giant informed Wikileaks about the FBI demand in December only.

Now, Wikileaks has asked Google about the details of the information shared with the federal agency at that time. Also, it wants to know whether Google has received any more requests since then.

According to Google, the FBI sought email content, metadata and many more.

“We are astonished and disturbed that Google waited over two and a half years to notify its subscribers that a search warrant was issued for their records,” according to the letter.

Google has told Wikileaks that the information that was requested by FBI was associated with the investigations related to f WikiLeaks editor, Sarah Harrison, senior editor Joseph Farrell and their spokesperson, Kristinn Hrafnsson.

“Neither Google nor the US government are living up to their own laws or rhetoric in privacy or press protections,” Sarah Harrison said.

Google clarified Wikileaks of not informing them about the data sharing because of the gag order.

Filed Under: Nation & Politics Tagged With: Eric Schmidt, FBI, Google, Michael Ratner, Wikileaks

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