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China-linked groups are using “deceptive” social media accounts to poll U.S. public opinion on divisive issues, with the aim of gathering information on how to disrupt elections, and AI It is trying to use the content it generates to sway public opinion, a new report reveals. According to Microsoft's report, Microsoft's success so far has been limited.
important facts
Analysis by Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center found no change in China's priorities or goals as it seeks to launch “influence operations” targeting the South Pacific Islands, the South China Sea region, and the U.S. defense industrial base. He noted that the latest trends indicate a change. (Forbes has contacted the Chinese embassy for comment).
The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center has previously noted that China-linked social media accounts have begun to impersonate U.S. voters, but this latest report shows that these accounts are increasingly impersonating U.S. divisive political issues. Microsoft has started posting almost exclusively about Microsoft, and more recently, a few months ago, those posts have started to include what Microsoft calls “poll questions.” and “What is your reaction?”
Microsoft says this is aimed at “better understanding which segments of the U.S. electorate support what issues and positions, and which issues are the most polarizing,” in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. He said that he believes there is a possibility that this could be a “new initiative.”
Chinese influence operations are increasingly using artificial intelligence to sow political division in the United States and elsewhere, the report says.
Microsoft said that a China-linked network known as Spamouflage (which Microsoft refers to as Storm-1376) ramped up its AI operations during Taiwan's presidential election, posting misleading AI-generated audio clips, memes, and other content. He announced that he had observed him advertising.
In the United States, Storm-1376 used AI-generated content to spread misinformation about a variety of issues—for example, claiming that the 2023 Maui wildfires were caused by the U.S. government. Microsoft found that there was “little evidence that these efforts were intentional.” succeeded in swaying opinion. ”
What other threats did the report find?
Microsoft also expressed concern about North Korea, noting the country's longstanding efforts to steal cryptocurrencies to fund its weapons programs. North Korean cyber attackers have made off with more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency heists since 2017, according to United Nations figures cited by Microsoft. North Korea has also stepped up its cyber operations to gather intelligence on the United States, South Korea, and Japan. The North Korean organization, which Microsoft calls Emerald Sleet, uses AI to improve its operations, and Microsoft said it is working with OpenAI to disable accounts associated with Emerald Sleet.
Main background
Microsoft has previously raised concerns that state-backed groups may be using artificial intelligence to improve their hacking operations. In February, Microsoft released a report saying that various groups with ties to Russia, China and other countries regularly use OpenAI's tools to increase the productivity of their hacking operations, but Microsoft officials said pointed out that they mainly use it for simple tasks. “They're just using it like everyone else to be more productive at what they're doing,” Tom Burt, Microsoft's head of cybersecurity, said at the time. told the New York Times. Adversaries of the United States have long faced accusations of using social media to sway politics and incite division, most notably in 2016, when Russia promoted then-candidate Donald Trump. That's when government-backed groups were implicated.
Contra
The report comes as Microsoft addresses its own cybersecurity challenges. In January, the company disclosed that a Russian-affiliated group called Midnight Blizzard had accessed some of its corporate email accounts, and in late March the group continued to attempt to gain access to its systems. He pointed out that. Earlier this week, the federal government's Cybersecurity Review Board released a report criticizing Microsoft for a “cascade of avoidable errors” that contributed to the breach of the tech giant's systems by a Chinese-linked group. Hackers in this cyberattack reportedly accessed email inboxes from dozens of organizations and several U.S. government officials.
tangent
Billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday said he plans to wipe out bot accounts on his social media platform have long struggled to control the emergence of
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