The amount of propaganda bots trying to sign up lately is bonkers.

[biogeographer@mastodon.social]

@jerry It's a component of growth sadly, Fediverse engagement rates are ridiculously high compared to other platforms.

[sb@metroholografix.ca]

@jerry
They rapidly change their tactics re: usernames and especially the descriptions. Seems the shift gears weekly.

The one thing that's always constant are the random email domains with common links behind them.

They're pretty easy to spot, but only because I'm hyper aware of them.

[benroyce@mastodon.social]

@wilbr @jairajdevadiga @jerry @idlebrain

it doesn't matter if they sincerely believe it or not

a lie is a lie

[jerry@infosec.exchange]

@benroyce @wilbr @jairajdevadiga @idlebrain I argue that propaganda doesn’t have to be a lie to be propaganda. I am reminded of my time in China - the news there only covered accomplishments and successes in China and only covered problems and failures from western countries. None of it was a lie. But it was definitely propaganda. That is what we are seeing a lot of here. Plus, it’s often challenging to determine what is true or not without an army of fact checkers at our disposal.

[yuhasz01@mastodon.social]

@jerry

Physically/manually scrutinize all follower requests. Check any new sources in your feeds. Many wankers appear in mine.

[ra6bit@infosec.exchange]

@jerry Oh lovely, just what we need.

[mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org]

@timbray @jerry hm, check your reports, I at least found a rather suspicious new account recently

[timbray@cosocial.ca]

@mirabilos @jerry Yeah, it was @_daisy - looks OK to me

[timbray@cosocial.ca]

@mirabilos Oh, now I remember. Yes, it was weird that their followING showed up before their followERS. No idea what was up tbh but it seems to have sorted itself out.

[zerotrustwraith@infosec.exchange]

@jerry This is the unfortunate reality of the internet right now. A free, open internet also fosters an environment for botnets and propaganda. Just like freedom of speech and other civil rights, it's a double edged sword.

While we can remain proactive and fight back against people with malicious intent, bad actors will always try to abuse systems created by those with good intentions and that is just the reality we have to accept.

[mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org]

@timbray @jerry ah, yes, looks okay now; at that point in time, it was highly suspicious

[mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org]

@timbray thanks

[mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org]

@timbray ah! Apparently, it was a move only half-federated at that time, and when the follow request arrived, my instance could not yet see even a filled-out profile.

(People, if you move, perhaps post first on both the old and new profile that you’re doing it; after the move, you cannot post on the old one any more, and absence of such makes it seem illegitimate way too easily.)

[mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org]

@_daisy please send another follow request, now that I know, I can accept it

[mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org]

@timbray (and, or that matter, 50$/year is decidedly less than even the external costs of running one’s own instance unless you already have some infrastructure you can add it to) (this in case anyone reads this and wonders)

[rayotron@mstdn.social]

@catsalad@sigmoid.social @mek2600 @catsalad@infosec.exchange @jerry Being married to a feral house might not be half bad.

Seriously, though, the increase in scammers is also pretty awful.

[free_amproot@infosec.exchange]

@jerry beep boop

[maryaustinbooks@mstdn.social]

@jerry
Every time one of my post does numbers, I get some really weird follows, some of which I even have to block. But mostly I haven't experienced this bullcrap. I credit my wonderful admin. This server is awesome if anybody needs a new one!

[jerry@infosec.exchange]

@MaryAustinBooks I can confirm, your admin is great as is the instance you are on.

[rogue_cells@chaos.social]

Time to bring out the air defense missile batteries and albino-cyber-bunnies with laser eyes!

Thanks for keeping us safe @jerry