Topline
Facebook on Monday said it had taken down several fake accounts, pages and groups that were engaging in a disinformation campaign targeting Ukraine while issuing a warning about increased targeting of Ukrainian military and public figures by hackers as the Russian invasion of the country entered its fifth day.
Fake accounts posing as news websites tried to publish claims about Ukraine being a failed state … [+]
Key Facts
In a statement, the company said in the previous 48 hours it had discovered a “relatively small network” of around 40 accounts, pages and groups on Facebook and Instagram based in Russia and Ukraine which were violating its policy against “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
These fake accounts posed as independent websites, created fake identities using profile pictures generated by artificial intelligence techniques and operated across multiple platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and Russian social networks Odnoklassniki and VK.
These fake accounts posed as news editors, engineers and scientists and ran websites publishing claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state, Facebook said.
Facebook also warned that it was seeing increased targeting of Ukrainians including public and military figures by the hacker group Ghostwriter using fraudulent emails to gain access to a user’s social media accounts.
The company said it detected hacked Facebook accounts being used to post YouTube videos showing Ukrainian troops surrendering to Russia.
Facebook is urging all of its users in Russia and Ukraine to take additional steps to secure their online accounts and protect themselves from hackers.
This is a developing story.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/02/28/facebook-takes-down-fake-accounts-targeting-ukraine-warns-of-hacking-attempts-against-ukrainian-public-figures/