Facebook recently announced initial funding of $500,000 for a nonprofit organization at Harvard University that will “help protect political parties, voting systems and information providers from hackers and propaganda attacks.”
The organization is called Defending Digital Democracy. Its efforts are led by Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney. Facebook has taken substantive initiative in the fight against fake news and malicious attacks because of the spread of propaganda during the 2016 presidential election. The social media site takes pride in allowing its 2 billion users to share their voices on political and social issues, but after the misuse of the networking site’s purpose lats year, it is focused on cleaning its platform.
Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos announced Facebook’s involvement at the Black Hat Information Security Conference in Las Vegas earlier this week, an event focusing on government security professionals. Clinton campaign chair Robby Mook claims “most campaigns don’t have the tools right now to defend themselves from cyber attacks” and asserts the non-profit “aims to fill the void and to help both Democratic and Republican campaigns defend themselves with greater information-sharing and security tools.”
Stamos also made it clear to the Black Hat attendees that the problem wasn’t going to go away unless they all collectively made an effort to solve it. He reiterated that it was important to be more open-minded about helping law enforcement officials track down criminals and terrorists. His theory is if these talented individuals work together to fend off potential crime, the world would be a safer place and there wouldn’t be a concern for government intrusion or other setbacks. He also made the following statement:
“We’re not going to be effective unless we demonstrate that we have the same goals. I want to present our position that strong cryptography is a critical part of building a safe, trustworthy future.”
The lack of cyber security is a growing issue in our society, but with Facebook’s help, the future could be a lot different.
Mohammad Sultani for TechFunnel.com
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