Misinformation Propagation

Growing up in Rome, Filippo Menczer used to watch the local con artists offer gullible tourists a chance to buy the Coliseum. The scam worked often enough that it spread and other people began doing it, until a combination of police action and human intelligence defeated it. (Well, at least…

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Which is the most popular malware propagation tactic?

According to Microsoft’s recently released Security Intelligence Report, that’s socially engineered malware (scareware pop ups; blackhat search engine optimization attacks), or malware requiring user interaction such as campaigns enticing users into downloading and executing a malicious file. More propagation tactics: User Interaction required – 44.8% AutoRun USB – 26% AutoRun:…

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