INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
These days capitalism and democracy seem to mean that it never too early to take advantage of the misery of others, and the outbreak of the
novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is the latest proof point.
On Saturday the Washington Post reported that an agency within the State Department
had compiled a report of 2 million tweets, which peddled conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
Among the hoaxes
compiled in the report and reported by the Post included the suggestion that the virus had been created by the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation or was the result of a bioweapon developed by the Chinese government.
In all, these tweets represent about 7% of the total tweets
surveyed by the government, according to the Post reporting.
Critically, the report indicated that some of the misinformation spread online
appeared to be the result of &inauthentic and coordinated activity,& the Post reported the document saying.
The report mirrors warnings from
cybersecurity firms like Check Point Software, which issued a report tracking the launch of new websites linked to themes around the
coronavirus outbreak earlier this month.
According to the company&sGlobal Threat Index for January 2020, &cyber-criminals are exploiting
interest in the global epidemic to spread malicious activity, with several spam campaigns relating to the outbreak of the virus.
The company
correlated Google search terms with what it deemed to be &malicious discussions& about the virus, and showed them to be tightly
correlated.
In one instance, a hacking campaign targeting web users in Japan distributed malicious email attachments by pretending to be a
Japanese disability welfare service provider
The email provided misinformation about the spread of the coronavirus in several Japanese cities, and when a user opened an attachment to
the email, they downloaded a modular, self-propagating Trojan virus onto their computer.
Email campaigns represent one threat, but another
one that the security firm tracked was new websites with domain names linked to the virus.
The company already spotted one fake website,
It was first created on February 11, 2020 and registered in Russia
According to Check Point, ''the website is insecure, and offers to sell ‘the best and fastest test for Coronavirus detection at the
fantastic price of 19,000 Russian rubles (about US$300).'
Facebook, Amazon and Twitter have all taken steps to remove misinformation about
the novel coronavirus from their platforms including advertisements offering purported cures for the disease.
Earlier this month, the big
tech companies met with representatives of the World Health Organization to come up with a plan and coordinate on ways to combat
misinformation and scams online.
Earlier this week, Facebook issued the following statement about its continuing response to misinformation
campaigns on the site:
As world health officials issue new guidance and warnings about coronavirus (COVID-19), we&re continuing our work to
connect people to information from regional and local health organizations and limit the spread of misinformation and harmful content about
the virus.
Connecting People to Accurate Information and Helpful Resources
Anyone who searches for information related to the virus on
Facebook is shown educational pop-ups on top of search results connecting them to expert health organizations including the World Health
We&ve launched these globallyover the last few weeksin all languages on Facebook, directing people to the WHO
In several countries we are directing people to their local ministry of health
For example, in the US we are directing people to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in Singapore,
we&re directing people to the Singapore Ministry of Health
Moreover, in countries where the WHO has reported person-to-person transmission and deaths, we&ve shown additional messages to people toward
the top of News Feed with more information.
