{"id":18633,"date":"2022-03-31T02:10:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-31T10:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/31\/news-12366\/"},"modified":"2022-03-31T02:10:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T10:10:02","slug":"news-12366","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/31\/news-12366\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine shuts down disinformation bot farm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Credit to Author: Christopher Boyd| Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2022 09:34:19 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Given current world events, there\u2019s an incredible amount of misinformation and disinformation around at the moment. Whether we\u2019re talking 5G, the pandemic, vaccines, or invasions, there\u2019s a lot out there.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest problems where bad information placed online is concerned is bot farms. A huge army of automated accounts sowing seeds of doubt and nonsense isn\u2019t helpful, and it can be tricky to do much about it. Occasionally, we hear tales of successful takedowns. This is one such story.<\/p>\n<h2>The difference between misinformation and disinformation<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s important we know where both of these diverge, and how. Misinformation is when someone spreads incorrect information. There doesn\u2019t need to be any malicious intent behind the spreading. They\u2019re simply getting something wrong, and throwing it out there anyway. Someone may even be repeating a talking point to be helpful or give assistance. Unfortunately incorrect information being spread across social media and elsewhere can lead to all sorts of problems. <\/p>\n<p>Disinformation is designed to be bad from the outset. It\u2019s carefully crafted lies and subterfuge, manipulating the truth for dubious purposes. It can be done by anyone with a random account online, or deployed in more sweeping fashion by a Government. It\u2019s a popular tool during wartime, and it\u2019s being used daily throughout the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<h2>What is a click farm?<\/h2>\n<p>A common question asked is \u201cWhat does a bot farm actually look like?\u201d, with good reason. People imagine rows of servers, doing server type things. Someone once asked me if they \u201cresembled robots\u201d. There are different types of farm, which can make the confusion even worse.<\/p>\n<p>Click farms are incredibly common, and are used to perform basic tasks on social media.<\/p>\n<p>These farms may employ people to monitor dozens or hundreds of mobiles and interact in some way on content intended to go viral.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"100%\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YZhlU2_YsPE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Click farms often descend into click fraud and other activities such as SIM smuggling, with law enforcement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/amp\/en\/article\/43yqdd\/look-at-this-massive-click-fraud-farm-that-was-just-busted-in-thailand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">inevitably becoming involved<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>What is a bot farm?<\/h2>\n<p>Bot farms, as the name suggests, attempt to go one better and automate a lot of these activities. It wasn&#8217;t so long ago that researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.comparitech.com\/blog\/information-security\/inside-facebook-bot-farm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">uncovered an insecure bot farm<\/a> and dug into how it operated. The intention of that farm was to perform political manipulation. Bots playing host to friends (also bots) across their networks pushed dubious and divisive content. They also joined specific Facebook groups to push the content further still. No doubt some of the material promoted was disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>This is what\u2019s currently happening in relation to the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<h2>When bot farms are dismantled<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s been revealed that no fewer than five significantly sized bot farms <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/ukraine-dismantles-5-disinformation-bot-farms-seizes-10-000-sim-cards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">have been shut down<\/a> by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) since the invasion began.<\/p>\n<p>According to the SSU, these bot farms are responsible for at least some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/euromaidanpress.com\/2022\/01\/24\/epidemic-of-hoax-bomb-threats-in-ukraine-part-of-russias-hybrid-war-emergency-service-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">many bomb threats<\/a> called in from the start of the year onward.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/26a1.png\" alt=\"\u26a1\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/>Authorities eliminate 5 Russian bot farms since start of invasion.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Security Service of Ukraine, the bot farms with more than 100,000 fake accounts were spreading disinformation, Russian ideology, and justifying the war.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KyivIndependent\/status\/1508716763177013250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 29, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The farm itself involved a wealth of equipment across two individual\u2019s residential properties, with a third person fielding technical maintenance. 3,000 SIM cards, numerous laptops, and multiple GSM gateways were among the items seized.<\/p>\n<h2>Combating disinformation tactics<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s never been a more urgent need for fact checking services. The Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukrinform.net\/rubric-society\/3440099-ukraine-unveils-aipowered-factcheck-bot-to-counter-russian-disinformation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">set up its own Telegram bot<\/a>, aimed at fact checking dubious claims within minutes. There are also several well-known fact-checking sites providing shakedowns of bogus claims and viral content in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These include <a href=\"https:\/\/fullfact.org\/news\/ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Full Fact<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/?s=ukraine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Snopes<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/factcheck.afp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">AFP fact check<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Before retweeting or sharing content, it\u2019s always worth checking the facts first. Even engaging with disinformation to counter or correct it can boost the disinformation&#8217;s viral nature, making it even harder to shut down. This is why, for example, people will often screenshot bogus claims to counter them instead of quoting them directly. In many cases, it may well be better to simply report the content instead of directly engaging with it.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.malwarebytes.com\/malwarebytes-news\/2022\/03\/ukraine-shuts-down-disinformation-bot-farm\/\">Ukraine shuts down disinformation bot farm<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.malwarebytes.com\">Malwarebytes Labs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.malwarebytes.com\/malwarebytes-news\/2022\/03\/ukraine-shuts-down-disinformation-bot-farm\/\" target=\"bwo\" >https:\/\/blog.malwarebytes.com\/feed\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Credit to Author: Christopher Boyd| Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2022 09:34:19 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s reported that Ukrainian security services have shut down a bot farm that was spreading disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.malwarebytes.com\/malwarebytes-news\/2022\/03\/ukraine-shuts-down-disinformation-bot-farm\/\">Ukraine shuts down disinformation bot farm<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.malwarebytes.com\">Malwarebytes Labs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[10488,10378],"tags":[10500,25552,22407,8801,4015,2218,10546,22734,10554,4054,25553],"class_list":["post-18633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-malwarebytes","category-security","tag-bot","tag-bot-farm","tag-disinformation","tag-farm","tag-farming","tag-lies","tag-malwarebytes-news","tag-misinformation","tag-mobile","tag-phone","tag-untruth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}