Romania Cancels Presidential Election Results After Alleged Russian Meddling on TikTok

In a historic decision, Romania's constitutional court has annulled the result of the first round of voting in the presidential election amid allegations of Russian interference. As a result, the second round vote, which was scheduled for December 8, 2024, will no longer take place. Călin...

Ransomware Attacks Are Getting Worse

Plus: US lawmakers have nothing to say about an Israeli influence campaign aimed at US voters, a former LA Dodgers owner wants to fix the internet, and more...

U.S. Sanctions Russians Behind 'Doppelganger' Cyber Influence Campaign

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC on Wednesday announced sanctions against two 46-year-old Russian nationals and the respective companies they own for engaging in cyber influence operations. Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze Gambashidze, the founder of the Moscow-base...

Pro-China Group Uses Dragonbridge Campaign to Target Rare Earth Mining Companies

A pro-China influence campaign singled out rare earth mining companies in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. with negative messaging in an unsuccessful attempt to manipulate public discourse to China's benefit. Targeted firms included Australia's Lynas Rare Earths Ltd, Canada's Appia Rare Earths &...

Ghostwriter Update: Cyber Espionage Group UNC1151 Likely Conducts Ghostwriter Influence Activity

In July 2020, Mandiant Threat Intelligence released a public report detailing an ongoing influence campaign we named “Ghostwriter.” Ghostwriter is a cyber-enabled influence campaign which primarily targets audiences in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland and promotes narratives critical of the North...

Anti-NATO Disinformation Campaign Leveraged CMS Compromises

Researchers have uncovered a widespread influence campaign that aims to discredit the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO, an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 North American and European countries. According to new research from FireEye, the campaign has been ongoing since at...

'Ghostwriter' Influence Campaign: Unknown Actors Leverage Website Compromises and Fabricated Content to Push Narratives Aligned With Russian Security Interests

Mandiant Threat Intelligence has tied together several information operations that we assess with moderate confidence comprise part of a broader influence campaign—ongoing since at least March 2017—aligned with Russian security interests. The operations have primarily targeted audiences in...

SAS 2019: Fake News Peddlers Adopt Clever New Trick to Fool Facebook, Twitter

Fake news peddlers have devised a cunning new way to stump Facebook, Twitter and others cracking down on lies and half-truths spreading on social media. Instead of linking to fake news, bad actors are now linking to posts promoting older news articles that may no longer be accurate – but won’t be...