A bot doesn't need to talk like a bot for Twitter to notice

The approach is an attempt to solve a problem that keeps changing.

Twitter is tracking accounts’ behavior — and not necessarily the content they disseminate — to determine whether a user is misrepresenting their identity, a possible indication the account is used to amplify information operations.

The approach is an attempt to solve a problem that keeps changing as nation-states look for any edge in cyberspace. While hackers continue to breach international networks to steal trade secrets and conduct espionage, they also use trusted social media outlets to exploit users in a way that is re-defining cyberwar, according to a panel of experts at the RSA cybersecurity conference.

“This practice … may be having a greater outcome than what we think of as traditional cybersecurity,” said political scientist Peter W. Singer. “Is [cybersecurity] about critical infrastructure, or the poisoning of democracies?”

Twitter examines accounts by assessing whether they are part of a larger network of users pushing the same types of information, said Del Harvey, Vice President of trust and safety. The company also checks to see if accounts are connecting through the same IP address or networks, she said. From there, Twitter builds a file that can help determine whether a user is participating in propaganda efforts.

“All these signals, when taken in isolation, don’t give you a clear snapshot,” Harvey said. “But when you can take all these weak ties together, you can build it into a profile.”

Of course, computers play a big role in doing all this work. As NSA senior adviser Rob Joyce said during the panel discussion, “Automation is very good at finding automation.”

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Technology

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure