The Week in Internet News: Microsoft Warns of Cyberattacks on U.S. Election Thumbnail
Technology 14 September 2020

The Week in Internet News: Microsoft Warns of Cyberattacks on U.S. Election

Grant Gross
By Grant GrossGuest AuthorTechnology Reporter

Hackers vs. the election: Microsoft has warned that hackers from Russia, China, and Iran are targeting U.S. election systems, The Hill reports. The tech giant is seeing increasing efforts to hack into the Donald Trump and Joe Biden presidential campaigns. A Russian hacking group called Strontium has targeted more than 200 organizations, political campaigns, and parties over the past year, the company said. 

Fighting disinformation: The government of India is calling for greater international cooperation among countries and tech companies to combat disinformation and doctored videos related to the COVID-19 pandemic, India Times reports. “The pandemic has demonstrated the existential dilemma of an information society,” Counsellor Paulomi Tripathi said at the United Nations. “We have been exposed to misinformation and disinformation campaigns which have put lives and livelihoods of millions at risk, divided communities with fake news and doctored videos and undermined the trust in public authorities to tackle the disease.”

Cutting red tape: Nigeria is looking to waive fees for laying fiber optic cables on federal highways as a way to expand Internet access in the country, Quartz Africa reports. Officials hope the waiver will help the country meet targets in its national broadband plan, which aims for 90 percent coverage of the population by 2025.

Take me to church: Flushing United Methodist Church in Michigan has opened its doors and its WiFi network to virtual learning students who don’t have Internet access at home, Mlive.com says. The idea was suggested by a church member who is also a teacher. The church boosted its WiFi network to accommodate additional users.

Investing elsewhere: As Chinese TikTok owner ByteDance faces demands from U.S. President Donald Trump to sell the video app, the company is planning to pump up its investments in Singapore, reports Bloomberg in the Straits Times. The company reportedly plans to spend billions of dollars and hire hundreds of people in Singapore.

Vigilante justice? A South Korean website targeting alleged sex offenders is under investigation by police after one target of the site committed suicide, Korea Joongang Daily says. The Digital Prison website doxxed dozens of people it claimed were sex offenders, murderers, and other felons, releasing their pictures, addresses, and phone numbers.

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Disclaimer: Viewpoints expressed in this post are those of the author and may or may not reflect official Internet Society positions.

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