LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, are not Likely to Survive Russian Internet Isolation Legislation

Social media giants, Twitter and Facebook, are in a legal struggle over previous Russian legislation which requires these companies to store Russian personal data in Russia. Currently, LinkedIn is banned in Russia. On 1 May 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed “Internet sovereignty” bill.  Russia will develop its own DNS system to conduct special Internet controls. 

To read the full article and find an archive of related reporting, follow this link to READBOARD.

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Russian Troll Factory Open for Business

Russian media source, RBC, is claiming English-speaking pro-Trump groups, Facebook Secured Borders, and Twitter Tea Party News are operated by a Russian “Troll Factory.” Russian businessman, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, is known for financing a Russian troll factory which employs Internet “trolls” who post and comment for the purpose of swaying public opinion both domestically and internationally. Prigozhin has been implicated in many other public and questionable business ventures. Currently, positive Russian ownership of these pro-Trump focused troll factories remains uncertain.

Wapack Labs has reported extensively on public sentiment in the past. An archive of related reporting can be found in the Red Sky Alliance Portal.

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Selling PayPal Accounts: Spanish Language Facebook Group

On 31 January 2017, Wapack Labs discovered a private Spanish language group on Facebook. This group sells compromised Mexican and German PayPal accounts for amounts between $500 and $1,000 Mexican Pesos. Wapack Labs believes, with medium to high confidence, that the administrators of the group are from Mexico; as they conduct transactions in Mexican Pesos. It is unclear at this time how they gain control of the accounts they are selling. Once a buyer pays for an account, the group provides expanded details on the account. 

Wapack Labs extensively reported on PayPal fraud schemes in the past. An archive of related reporting can be found in the Red Sky Alliance portal.

The following organizations were cited in this report: PayPal, Facebook

TLP: AMBER
ACTOR TYPE: (N/A)
SERIAL: TR-024-2017
COUNTRIES: US (FL) & MX, DE
INDUSTRIES: Financial
REPORT DATE: 20170202

Google AdWords Phishing Campaign

Wapack Labs has discovered a new phishing campaign. While generally simplistic, it contains some elements of high sophistication. It is also fairly expensive to operate, which suggests it is a precursor to a more sophisticated and potentially harmful campaign. Wapack Labs conducted a brief tactical analysis and is providing this report for your situational awareness.

• Search for “Facebook” in Google Chrome produced a link to a fake anti-virus malware. 
• Facebook was notified of this activity.
• A much more serious malware campaign targeting major social, retail, and online companies may be in the works...READ MORE

Publication Date: 19 December 2016

Handling Requirements: Traffic light protocol (TLP) GREEN

Attribution/Threat Actors: Google AD campaign phishing/unknown author

Actor Type:  Adversary capabilities have been assessed as Tier II

Industries Targeted: Financial, business and retail sectors

Past Reporting: Red Sky Alliance: DOC-2901

Companies Cited In This Report: Facebook, EBay, and Home Deport

The full report may be viewed in the Red Sky Alliance as DOC-4557.  
Contact Wapack Labs for more information.

Facebook and WhatsApp - Part II

In the United Kingdom, Facebook is once again being prevented from sharing data with their subsidiary WhatsApp.  This is signaling future internationally focused privacy law actions against cyber companies; chiefly due to the October 2016 U.S. Federal Communications Commission  (FCC) surrender of Internet control.  These legal decisions could significantly affect future data sharing.    This information is being provided for your situational awareness.

• 27 September 2016: Facebook was blocked by a German court from collecting user data from WhatsApp.  Facebook, the parent company of WhatsApp, is appealing the order.

• 1 October 2016: The U.S. FCC relinquished control over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), enabling international regulation of ICANN under the Net Neutrality doctrine.

• Legal action against Facebook by the UK and Spanish governments is underway, which could set a precedence for future privacy rights actions against cyber companies internationally.