Security News Bites for February 28, 2025

Screens at HUD Display AI Video of Donald Trump Sucking …

Okay, I know that was click bait. As Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees walked into headquarters on Monday, they were greeted by large television screens showing video of the President sucking Elon Musk’s toes. Staff could not initially turn off the screens and finally resorted to unplugging the TVs showing the video, which was on a continuous loop. It was labeled with the caption “Long Live the Real King.” I guess someone was both bored and annoyed. HUD leadership was not amused. Credit: The Record

A $13 Investment in AI Disinformation Could Cause a $1 Million Bank Run

The British research firm Say No To Disinfo has simulated an AI-driven disinformation campaign to see if customers would close their bank accounts based on disinformation. For their $13 investment in social media ads, 60 percent of the study participants who consumed the fake news were fundamentally willing to withdraw their money from their bank. The campaign primarily used fake news on Twitter that they generated. This could be disastrous for any business that was targeted, as we saw with Silicon Valley Bank. Credit: CSO Online

Musk’s Starlink Being Used by Slavery Compounds in Myanmar

I don’t think this is intentional on his part – at least I hope not – but the human trafficking crime rings that run call centers out of Myanmar which use, basically, slaves, to run online scams, are using dozens of Starlink terminals for their operations so that they cannot be blocked by the government. Perhaps this Wired story will encourage Starlink to clamp down on this stuff. Credit: Wired

Skype is DEAD! Thank God.

Skype, which Microsoft bought for almost ten billion dollars years ago, had its time. That was before Zoom and Webex and all of their competitors. It was also before unlimited cell phone plans. Finally, in May, Microsoft is going to let it die a peaceful death. If you still use Skype, now is the time to make migration plans. There are lots of options. Credit: Cybernews

AI Generated Child Porn is Still Child Porn and Illegal

Operation Cumberland, a joint effort of 19 countries police agencies, arrested more than two dozen people who are accused of distributing AI generated Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or child pornography. The AI tools which are available make creating this material easy enough for a criminal with limited technical skills to do. Europol says they plan to continue enforcing the laws and are warning people that AI doesn’t make it legal. Credit: The Record

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