The internet has been one of the most revolutionary technologies of our age, and most agree that the transformation it’s brought to our society has been beneficial. Social media – one of the more recent arrivals on the scene – has also generally been a good thing, allowing us to connect with friends and family across the world, find people who have similar interests to us, and rapidly share jokes, memes and information.
This latter element, however, has slowly turned from a benefit into a problem. Disinformation and what might be termed “fake news” is seeping in everywhere, making it difficult to know what and who to believe.
In this week’s episode of the IT Pro Podcast, we speak to Andy Patel, a researcher with cyber security firm F-Secure, about what disinformation is, how it spreads and the negative effects it could have on businesses.
Footnotes
- QAnon: What is it and where did it come from?
- FBI warns of hackers spoofing its domain
- Dems ask Facebook, Google and Twitter for coronavirus disinformation reports
- WhatsApp restricts message forwarding to curb spread of 5G myths
- What is phishing?
- IT Pro Live: Fighting terrorism with technology
- Fake news 'is killing our minds', says Tim Cook
- Trend Micro's free web-based tool takes on hackers and fake news
- WhatsApp counters fake viral messages with new fact-check tool
- Satirical websites target Mark Zuckerberg with fake news
- Trump confirms US cyber attack on Russia election trolls
- What is hacktivism?
- The IT Pro Podcast: What COVID-19 can teach us about open data
- Biden team signals president-elect may target Section 230 and data privacy
- Dems ask Facebook, Google and Twitter for coronavirus disinformation reports
- Google turns its hand to fighting election abuse
- Facebook facing scrutiny amid claims it encourages spread of misinformation
- The IT Pro Podcast: The truth about 5G
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