Federal investigators are asking questions about a high-profile Twitter hack last week that briefly caused the markets to drop by around $136 billion in value before quickly rebounding.

A fraudulent tweet sent from the official Associated Press Twitter account on Tuesday announced that United States President Barack Obama was injured following an explosion at the White House. In a matter of only seconds Read More

A hacker compromised the main Twitter account for the Associated Press on Tuesday, creating momentary chaos across the world by inaccurately posting that US President Barack Obama was injured by an explosion in the White House.

Just after 1 p.m. EST, a message sent by the account @AP read “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.” Read More

Steve Watson
Infowars.com

Gawker.com has uncovered a Twitter account for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (suspect number 2), that contains many normal looking tweets.

On the day of the bombing Tsarnaev appears to have tweeted: “Ain’t no love in the heart of the city, stay safe people.” Read More

As the polls have closed across the country, the Twitter account of the Venezuela presidential hopeful Nicolas Maduro has been compromised by the Lulz Security Peru hacktivist group. Two official websites have been brought down as well.

The official’s twitter account was filled with vulgar messages in which @lulzsecperu claimed responsibility for the successful attack. Read More

Is the IRS about to get too close for comfort? New reports brought to light by one privacy and data security expert suggest that this tax filing season the Internal Revenue Service may be monitoring social media for any clues of tax cheats.

According to Kristen Mathews, a partner attorney at law firm Proskauer Rose LLP who specializes in privacy and data security Read More

The Saudi Arabian communications regulator plans to link national Twitter bloggers to personal social media user IDs, local media has reported. There are no technical or legal restrictions to the move, but Twitter’s official approval is needed.

The Saudi Arabian Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) studies ways to uncover social media users’ real identities Read More

Murray Weiss
DNAinfo.com

Socializing online is landing criminals in custody. Police are searching for suspects’ photos on Instagram and Facebook, then running them through the NYPD’s new Facial Recognition Unit to put a face to a name, DNAinfo New York has learned. Read More

A little known policy slips quietly under the radar in January 2012 as our friends at Twitter announce they will censor tweets, if a country’s government requests them to do so. A year later, Australia becomes the first modern democracy to identify, filter and ban free speech whilst not in a state of War.

In recent weeks, the censoring of tweets by Australian conservatives, or, indeed anyone who dares to either engage in political debate or offer opinion on the ruling Labor-Green alliance Read More

By Adam Taylor

Here’s how it was before: Read More

By Adam Taylor

Here’s how it was before: Read More

Most people use social media like Facebook and Twitter to share photos of friends and family, chat with friends and strangers about random and amusing diversions, or follow their favorite websites, bands and television shows.

But what does the US military use those same networks for? Well, we can’t tell you: That’s “classified,” a CENTCOM spokesman recently informed Raw Story. Read More

Don’t let that dwindling number of Twitter followers drag you down: users of the successful social networking service are about to have a huge new audience as the Library of Congress nears archiving every public tweet ever sent. Read More

These days, with Facebook and Twitter and social media galore, it can be increasingly hard to tell who your “friends” are.

But after this, Internet users would be well advised to ask another question entirely:

Are my “friends” even real people?

In the continuing saga of data security firm HBGary, a new caveat has come to light:

not only did they plot to help destroy secrets outlet WikiLeaks and discredit progressive bloggers, they also crafted detailed proposals for software that manages online “personas,” allowing a single human to assume the identities of as many fake people as they’d like.

The revelation was among those contained in the company’s emails, which were dumped onto bittorrent networks after hackers with cyber protest group “Anonymous” broke into their systems.

In another document unearthed by “Anonymous,” one of HBGary’s employees also mentioned gaming geolocation services to make it appear as though selected fake persons were at actual events.

“There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas,” it said.

Government involvement

Eerie as that may be, more perplexing, however, is a federal contract from the 6^th Contracting Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, located south of Tampa, Florida, that solicits providers of “persona management software.”

While there are certainly legitimate applications for such software, such as managing multiple “official” social media accounts from a single input, the more nefarious potential is clear.

Unfortunately, the Air Force’s contract description doesn’t help dispel suspicions. As the text explains, the software would require licenses for 50 users with 10 personas each, for a total of 500.

These personas would have to be,

“replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent.”

It continues, noting the need for secure virtual private networks that randomize the operator’s Internet protocol (IP) address, making it impossible to detect that it’s a single person orchestrating all these posts.

Another entry calls for static IP address management for each persona, making it appear as though each fake person was consistently accessing from the same computer each time.

The contract also sought methods to anonymously establish virtual private servers with private hosting firms in specific geographic locations. This would allow that server’s “geosite” to be integrated with their social media profiles, effectively gaming geolocation services.

The Air Force added that the “place of performance” for the contract would be at MacDill Air Force Base, along with Kabul, Afghanistan and Baghdad. The contract was offered on June 22, 2010.

It was not clear exactly what the Air Force was doing with this software, or even if it had been procured.

Manufacturing consent

Though many questions remain about how the military would apply such technology, the reasonable fear should be perfectly clear.

“Persona management software” can be used to manipulate public opinion on key information, such as news reports. An unlimited number of virtual “people” could be marshaled by only a few real individuals, empowering them to create the illusion of consensus.

You could call it a virtual flash mob, or a digital “Brooks Brothers Riot,” so to speak: compelling, but not nearly as spontaneous as it appears.

That’s precisely what got DailyKos blogger Happy Rockefeller in a snit: the potential for military-run armies of fake people manipulating and, in some cases, even manufacturing the appearance of public opinion.

“I don’t know about you, but it matters to me what fellow progressives think,” the blogger wrote.

“I consider all views. And if there appears to be a consensus that some reporter isn’t credible, for example, or some candidate for congress in another state can’t be trusted, I won’t base my entire judgment on it, but it carries some weight.

“That’s me. I believe there are many people though who will base their judgment on rumors and mob attacks. And for those people, a fake mob can be really effective.”

It was Rockefeller who was first to highlight the Air Force’s “persona” contract, which was available on a public website.

A call to MacDill Air Force Base, requesting an explanation of the contract and what this software might be used for, was answered by a public affairs officer who promised a call-back.

No reply was received at time of this story’s publication.

Other e-mails circulated by HBGary’s CEO illuminate highly personal data about critics of the US Chamber of Commerce, including detailed information about their spouses and children, as well as their locations and professional links. The firm, it was revealed, was just one part of a group called “Team Themis,” tasked by the Chamber to come up with strategies for responding to progressive bloggers and others.

“Team Themis” also included a proposal to use malware hacks against progressive organizations, and the submission of fake documents in an effort to discredit established groups.

HBGary was also behind a plot by Bank of America to destroy WikiLeaks’ technology platform, other emails revealed. The company was humiliated by members of “Anonymous” after CEO Aaron Barr bragged that he’d “infiltrated” the group.

A request for comment emailed to HBGary did not receive a reply.

Update – HBGary Federal among bidders

A list of interested vendors responding to the Air Force contract for “persona management software” included HBGary subsideary HBGary Federal, further analysis of a government website has revealed.

Other companies that offered their services included,

• Global Business Solutions and Associates LLC

• Uk Plus Logistics, Ltd.

• NevinTelecom

• Bunker Communications

• Planmatrix LLC

Source

Steve Watson
Infowars.com

Here is the tweet: “Quite incredible that Bob Costas makes an impassioned plea for less handguns, and Americans go crazy with indignation. He’s 100% right.” Read More

Newark Mayor Cory Booker says he plans on living on food stamps for at least a week after being challenged to do so by a user on Twitter. Read More