TALKING BUSINESS
N
ew research indicates that
criminals are increasingly
exploiting the growth of ‘fake
news’ for commercial gain. The growth
of so-called fake news has traditionally
been associated with the political
sphere and executed for ideological
purposes. However, research conducted
by analysts at Digital Shadows reveals
the growth of toolkits and services –
available for just $7 – that are aimed
specifically at causing financial and
reputational damage for companies.
In particular, Digital Shadows has noticed
a recent trend towards the growth on the
dark web of so-called ‘Pump and Dump’
services. These are designed to work
by gradually purchasing major shares
in altcoin (cryptocurrencies other than
Bitcoin) and drumming up interest in the
coin through posts on social media. The
tool then trades these coins between
its multiple accounts, driving the price
up, before selling these to unsuspecting
traders on currency exchanges looking to
buy while share prices are still rising. An
analysis of the bitcoin wallet of one such
popular service noted that it received the
equivalent of $326,000 from wannabe
criminals in less than two months.
“Unsurprisingly, media
organisations are a particular
target of purveyors of fake
news. Retailers too are a target.”
www.intelligentcio.com
Similarly, Digital Shadows identified
over 10 services that allow users to
download software, which controls the
activities of social media bots. One
offers users downloadable software
for a trial period of just $7. Other tools
claim to promote content across over
hundreds of thousands of platforms,
including forums, blogs and bulletin
boards. These work by controlling large
numbers of bots; armies of computers
that the individuals control and can
configure the bots to post on specific
types of forums on different topics.
Overall, mentions of these sites across
criminal forums can give an indication
of their popularity – these have
increased 300% in just two years from
418 in 2015 to 1381 in 2017 so far.
The battle against fake news could
be getting even more difficult with
advertisements for toolkits increasingly
claiming to include built in features
that bypass captcha methods, which
were initially brought in to prevent bots
INTELLIGENTCIO
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