American multinational company Meta Platforms Inc. deleted about 1,500 Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to so-called “cyber-mercenaries” who, in the interests of paying clients, followed netizens, including journalists, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition figures and human rights defenders. This was announced on Thursday, December 16, at the press service of the corporation.
Meta also informed about 50,000 people in over 100 countries that they could be targeted by cyber mercenaries.
Meta took action against seven companies
In total, Meta took action against seven cyber-mercenary companies. Four of them – Cobwebs Technologies, Cognyte, Black Cube and Bluehawk CI – are based in Israel or were founded there. The rest are associated with India, North Macedonia and China.
Identity theft was carried out in three stages
As the AFP agency clarifies, the theft of personal data of espionage objects was usually carried out in three stages. At first, publicly available information was collected on the Internet, for example, through blogs, online platforms or media sites. The next step was about establishing contact, in particular, through fake user accounts. At the same time, victims were tricked into following links with spyware. Then the hackers gained access to personal data, such as passwords and photos, and also activated microphones and cameras of mobile phones or laptops and tracked movements through geolocation.
Zuckerberg metaverse
Corporation Facebook Inc. was renamed Meta at the end of October. “Hopefully, over time, we will be seen as a metaverse company, and I want to link our work and identity to that end,” said co-founder Mark Zuckerberg at the time. In September, Facebook pledged $ 50 million to build the metaverse. The company is testing a virtual reality app for remote work that will allow users to attend meetings as avatars using a dedicated headset.
See also:
.