Neowin News Feed for: Terrorism

Meta Launches new Content Moderation Tool HMA that can scan for terrorist content

Hemant Saxena — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 15:32:01 +0000

Meta has developed a free open-source software tool that will help platforms identify copies of images or videos and take action against them en masse. The tool is named as Hasher-Matcher-Actioner. Read more...

Homeland Security may hire firms to spot signs of impending terrorism on social media

Usama Jawad — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 06:06:02 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security has revealed that it is considering collaborating with external companies to detect and proactively responding to signs of violence and terrorism on social media. Read more...

U.S. DoJ to consider ransomware attacks as seriously as terror attacks

Paul Hill — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 01:56:01 +0000

The U.S. will address ransomware attacks in a more centralized way according to internal documents seen by Reuters. Ransomware attacks are also being given a priority similar to terrorist attacks. Read more...

UK to introduce laws to improve safety on social media

Paul Hill — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 14:28:01 +0000

The UK government is looking to introduce new laws that will apply to social media platforms. The laws will seek to crackdown on terrorist and child sexual abuse material as well as misinformation. Read more...

France introduces tough law to tackle terrorist content

Paul Hill — Thu, 14 May 2020 19:50:01 +0000

France has introduced a new law which will see platforms take down terrorist and child abuse content in just one hour. If firms fail to comply, they could be fined up to 4% of global revenue. Read more...

Europol says it has taken Islamic State presences offline

Paul Hill — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 16:02:01 +0000

Europol has announced that it knocked Islamic State offline. It worked with nine firms including Telegram which was hosting a large amount of terrorist content, including the Amaq propaganda outlet. Read more...

U.K. government could introduce internet regulators as it considers “all options”

Paul Hill — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 02:40:01 +0000

The U.K. could be set to get one or two internet regulators in future as the government works out its proposals for such an idea. It could see regulation of junk food ads, and content on social media. Read more...

Russian watchdog considers unblocking Telegram in the country

Paul Hill — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:10:01 +0000

The Russian regulator, Roskomnadzor, has announced that it is willing to reconsider the block against Telegram in Russia, but only if Telegram meets its terms. Telegram seems unlikely to comply. Read more...

Russia has filed a lawsuit to block Telegram messaging app

Richard Tyr Blewitt — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 16:22:01 +0000

The Russian media regulator has filed a lawsuit against the messaging app Telegram after its parent company failed to hand over the encryption keys for the app. The app may be blocked as a result. Read more...

UK Home Office AI tackles extremist propaganda [Update]

Paul Hill — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 11:54:01 +0000

The UK Home Office has developed new software that is able to scan for, and remove, terrorist content being uploaded online. The Government will share the software with smaller online platforms. Read more...

Theresa May to call for more AI to fight online terrorist content

Richard Tyr Blewitt — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 09:42:01 +0000

Theresa May will be meeting with other Western leaders and representatives from Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook to demand more be done to stop the spread of online extremist content. Read more...

Telegram forms Indonesian-oriented terrorist content moderator team to avoid ban

Paul Hill — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 11:06:01 +0000

Telegram has created a special team to appease the Indonesian government. The team will focus on removing Indonesian-based terrorist content. This follows threats to ban the app in the country. Read more...

Telegram agrees to register with Russian regulator but it won't share private data

Paul Hill — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 02:10:01 +0000

Telegram has agreed to register with the Russian regulator Roskomnadzor. The company won't infringe people's privacy and will only share basic information about the company with the regulator. Read more...

Microsoft, YouTube, and others team up to combat terrorism

Ehtisham Ul Haq Shams — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 08:20:01 +0000

Microsoft, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have announced a coalition to combat terrorism. Together they aim to remove terrorist activities from their platforms by sharing resources with each other. Read more...

Pro-ISIL group hack and deface Ohio government websites

Paul Hill — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 12:54:01 +0000

ISIL supporters made several Ohio government websites the target of its latest hack. One of the sites to be defaced by Team System Dz was the of office of Ohio Governor and republican, John Kasich. Read more...

Apple helped UK law enforcement investigate terrorist attacks

Paul Hill — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:58:02 +0000

Tim Cook said in a recent interview that Apple has assisted UK law enforcement with its investigation into who was involved with the latest terrorist attack at London Bridge on Saturday. Read more...

Laptops in the cabin may be banned, for all flights, into and out of the USA

Richard Tyr Blewitt — Mon, 29 May 2017 16:58:01 +0000

Along with the very likely introduction of new luggage screening procedures by the TSA for domestic flights, Homeland Security may ban all laptops in the cabin of any flight into or out of the USA. Read more...

Fire in the hold! European aviation regulators say new electronics ban carries major risks

Richard Tyr Blewitt — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 11:38:01 +0000

The European Aviation Safety Agency has banged heads with the American Federal Aviation Authority and British authorities on concerns regarding the ban on personal electronic devices in the cabin. Read more...

Microsoft "responded in under 30 minutes" to email info request after London terror attack

Andy Weir — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 12:48:01 +0000

After being accused by a British newspaper of "refusing the Home Secretary's demand for more help on terror", a statement from Microsoft pointed out that it swiftly assisted authorities last week. Read more...

Microsoft president: "We will not help any government hack or attack any customer anywhere"

Andy Weir — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 14:02:01 +0000

As tech firms are called upon to do more to help security and intelligence services to combat terrorism, Microsoft's Brad Smith says that there must be limits, in order to respect individual privacy. Read more...

Twitter has shut down over 600,000 terrorism accounts

Mina Esapa — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 23:10:01 +0000

Social media giant Twitter stated in a transparency report that it has shut down more than 600,000 terrorism accounts since August 2015, with almost 377,000 shut down between July and December 2016. Read more...

Disney, YouTube cut ties with internet star PewDiePie over anti-Semitic imagery

Justin Luna — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:56:01 +0000

Internet video sensation PewDiePie has been dropped by Disney after using racist imagery. YouTube has also canceled his Red series, and has taken him off the Preferred advertising system. Read more...

Telegram blocks around 2,000 ISIS-related channels per month

Paul Hill — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 04:08:01 +0000

Telegram has announced that over 60 ISIS-related channels on its platform are deleted every day. The company launched ISIS Watch as a means to keep people updated on the amount of channels deleted. Read more...

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube band together to tackle ‘terrorist' content

Paul Hill — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 03:14:01 +0000

Social media sites have come together to create a database of hashed terrorist content that has been removed from a participating site, making it easier for partners to delete content on their site. Read more...

Hacker sentenced to 20 years in prison for assisting terror group ISIL

Paul Hill — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 18:06:01 +0000

The United States has, for the first time, sentenced a terrorist-related hacker for stealing information about 1,300 US military personnel. Ardit Ferizi, has been handed a 20-year sentence. Read more...

Twitter not liable for the rise of ISIS on its service, court rules

Justin Luna — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 10:36:01 +0000

A U.S. court judge has decided that Twitter is not responsible for terrorist content on its service, after a widow sued it for allegedly giving ISIS a voice to spread their propaganda. Read more...

Israeli government: Facebook is a 'monster' that's aiding terrorists

Vlad Dudau — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:46:01 +0000

Israel's government is ramping up pressure on the social networking giant. It's throwing around harsh words in an effort to get Facebook to remove posts that it deems to be dangerous and extremist. Read more...

Facebook Safety Check deployed in Orlando in a first for the US

Boyd Chan — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 10:40:01 +0000

In response to the Orlando nightclub shooting, Facebook triggered its Safety Check feature for the first time in the US, leveraging its automatic deployment capability without needing an engineer. Read more...

French government releases terror alert app ahead of Euro 2016 tournament

Steven Parker — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 12:40:01 +0000

The Euro 2016 tournament kicks off on Friday, and ahead of that, the French authorities have released an app that will warn users of a terrorist attack for up to nine different regions in the country. Read more...

Microsoft announces new measures to curb terrorist-related use of its services

Boyd Chan — Sat, 21 May 2016 16:12:01 +0000

In a collaborative effort, Microsoft seeks to evolve the whack-a-mole approach to dealing with online terrorist content toward a proactive and automated means of identification. Read more...

Stolen USB stick reveals personal information on thousands of ISIS members

Vlad Dudau — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 13:00:01 +0000

ISIS has just suffered a massive data leak, with tens of thousands of names and addresses of its members ending up in the hands of authorities - and all because of a stolen USB drive. Read more...

ISIS supporters threaten Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey

Justin Luna — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 09:58:01 +0000

Terrorist group ISIS has threatened Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after suspending their accounts, promising to fight back and counter their attacks against them. Read more...

Google wants to restrict ISIS to the dark web and away from the general public

Vlad Dudau — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 12:02:01 +0000

Google's head of ideas explains how the online fight against ISIS and other terror groups may yield easy short-term wins, as ISIS users are neither technologically savvy nor as numerous as claimed. Read more...

Anonymous wants December 11th to be 'Isis trolling day'

Vlad Dudau — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 09:12:01 +0000

The online hacktivist group wants to start a campaign to ridicule and discredit the terrorist's organization social media messages. As such, December 11th will now be Isis trolling day. Read more...

Anonymous takes down ISIS website, replaces it with Viagra ad

Justin Luna — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 18:32:01 +0000

As part of Anonymous' promise of war against terrorist group ISIS, the hacktivist group defaced a website promoting jihadist propaganda, replacing it instead with an ad for Viagra. Read more...

ISIS calls Anonymous 'idiots', but urges members to exercise caution online

Jett Goldsmith — Sun, 22 Nov 2015 09:56:01 +0000

ISIS has hit back in response to a declaration of war by hacking group Anonymous, calling them "idiots." The terror group, however, posted guidelines and urged its members to exercise caution online. Read more...

Anonymous takes down the main messaging forum used by ISIS

Justin Luna — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 08:28:01 +0000

As part of hacktivist group Anonymous' promise towards ISIS who claimed responsibility over the Paris attacks, the iconic organization has taken down the terrorists' main communication forums. Read more...

Anonymous renews offensive against ISIS

Paul Hill — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 03:42:01 +0000

In a recent video, Anonymous have declared their intent to renew their campaign against websites and Twitter users who support ISIS, the terror group operating in Iraq and Syria. Read more...

China to control computer and phone purchases in Xinjiang to help suppress terrorism

Justin Luna — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 09:12:01 +0000

A new rule has been implemented in Xinjiang, China, where people are obliged to register their information whenever they buy gadgets. This was reportedly a move to reduce terrorism in the area. Read more...

Anonymous hits the first target of 'Operation Charlie Hebdo'

Usama Jawad — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 19:26:01 +0000

After the tragic events on 7 January, Anonymous has launched 'Operation Charlie Hebdo', an operation which seeks to shut down all websites related to terrorism and extremism. Read more...