The IRA has repeatedly used complex networks of inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people who use Facebook, including before, during and after the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. It’s why we don’t want them on Facebook, we removed this latest set of Pages and accounts solely because they were controlled by the IRA — not based on the content.

Alex Stamos

Categorized in : Tech

With or without foreign interference, our democracy is moving in a dangerous path where billionaires on both sides are investing in huge data operations, in manipulating individuals across the country through online ads.

Alex Stamos

politics

If I was Alex Stamos I would go hire a new CEO for the company.

Alex Stamos

technology

He should hire a CEO that can help signal both internally and externally that the culture has to change.

Alex Stamos

technology

They are cloaking these companies and cloaking the people behind them.

Alex Stamos

money

Nobody was willing to be the official ISIS chatboard, but 8chan is willing to be that (for white supremacists), and that changes the entire texture of the effort to fight it.

Alex Stamos

money

It's really exciting, i have to support this guy, someone who has been active in this world since he was a teenager.

Alex Stamos

top-news

The company has grown by leaps and bounds over the last three years. I think it has more than doubled in size. ... It's strange, we had a company where three years makes you one of the more tenured people, it's also a company, I think, that's coming to grips with its importance in the world, right ? What started as a fun dorm room project... people have realized it has an incredibly central geopolitical role that we can't ignore. So it is definitely, I think, a more serious company than the one I started at.

Alex Stamos

technology

They haven't painted it yet, it's a bit of a reminder that companies come and go right ? Like, what was one of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley -- disappeared.

Alex Stamos

technology

I think the company is lasting, but I think also that the 101 is littered with the old headquarters of companies that thought they would be around forever. That is a constant part of Silicon Valley, the death and the rebirth of these products and and these organizations. ... [ N ] obody can get too comfortable and too arrogant about how long anybody can be around, and how long you can be on top.

Alex Stamos

technology

Those product decisions were not Sheryl's responsibility.

Alex Stamos

top-news

It should be an open process, because you can't have it all.

Alex Stamos

business

The IRA has consistently used inauthentic accounts to deceive and manipulate people. It’s why we remove every account we find that is linked to the organization—whether linked to activity in the U.S, Russia or elsewhere.

Alex Stamos

tech

The reuse of passwords is the No. 1 cause of harm on the Internet.

Alex Stamos

cause internet harm

I think... all of the best public cryptographers in the world would agree that you can't really build back doors in crypto. That it's like drilling a hole in the windshield.

Alex Stamos

best think you world

People now know how important it is to build secure systems to underlie our civilization.

Alex Stamos

know important civilization people

Usernames and passwords are an idea that came out of 1970s mainframe architectures. They were not built for 2016.

Alex Stamos

1970s idea out were

We have perfected the art of finding problems without fixing real-world issues. We focus too much on complexity, not harm.

Alex Stamos

finding problems focus art

Preventing surveillance of millions of people at a time is totally within our ability.

Alex Stamos

surveillance ability time people

There's always a momentum in how users do stuff. Making small changes can have huge knock-on effects for whole companies.

Alex Stamos

changes how small always

I don't think it's wrong for companies to work with the government. What's important is being trustworthy and honest with customers.

Alex Stamos

think government important work