I haven’t written about the train wreck next to a dumpster fire that Twitter is in a while. But this Sky News article caught my interest. Let’s start with the desperation that is strong with Elon by him making this move:
Elon Musk has announced further changes to social media platform X that will see certain accounts get premium features for free.
The tech billionaire, writing on the platform formerly known as Twitter, said all accounts with more than 2,500 verified subscriber followers would be able to access features that usually cost $8 (£6.30) a month.
Premium features include the ability to edit and write longer posts, as well as reducing the number of adverts seen by the user. It also gives the account holder a blue tick next to their display name.
So this is interesting. I seem to recall that Elon argued that he had to charge $8 a month for certain features to allow Twitter to make money. But now he’s making said features free to a subset of users. Which means he’s not making as much money. I wonder why he’s doing that? Perhaps this is the reason:
It comes after the company denied reports that the number of people logging in to X has plummeted since Musk took over.
Worldwide daily users of X’s mobile app fell to 174 million in February, down 15% from a year earlier, according to research by data firm Sensor Tower.
X’s own figures also suggest a decline since November 2022, Sky’s US partner NBC News reported.
The company said earlier this month it had 250 million active daily users – which is down from the 258 million claimed by Musk at around the time when he took over the firm.
Other social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, have in contrast experienced “modest” increases in users over the past year, researchers said.
“This decline in X mobile app active users may have been driven by user frustration over flagrant content, general platform technical issues, and the growing threat of short-form video platforms,” Sensor Tower senior analyst Abe Yousef said.
A spokesperson for X described the research figures as “inaccurate” and added: “Both our own data and self-reported data from other platforms tells a different story.”
In short, my thinking is that Elon is making this move to try and stop users from leaving. And then if he can stop the bleeding, he’s going to go back to figuring out how to make a buck off of those users. It’s a strategy I suppose. But it highlights the fact that Twitter is a mess since Elon took over and Elon doesn’t know how to fix the damage that he has caused. Thus highlighting the fact that he’s not as smart as everyone thinks he is.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Sucks to be you Elon.
NHS Trust Confirms That Clinical Data Related To Patients Leaked As Part Of Getting Pwned
Posted in Commentary with tags Hacked on March 28, 2024 by itnerdYesterday, following the attack on its systems earlier this month, the Scottish NHS confirmed in an online statement that clinical data relating to a small number of patients has been published by a “recognized ransomware group.”
On March 14th, the original statement by the NHS confirmed that hackers had accessed “a significant amount of data including patient and staff-identifiable information.”
The ransomware group then followed with a threat on its leak site that it will soon publish 3TB of data relating to NHS Scotland patients and staff unless its demands are met. The threat actor posted a ‘proof pack’ which shows sensitive clinical documents, including genetics reports and letters between doctors discussing patient treatments.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway Chief Executive Jeff Ace acknowledged that the information has been released by the attackers to prove it is in their possession. He made no reference to any ransom demand made by the group.
Morten Gammelgard, EMEA, co-founder, BullWall had this to say:
“Although the NHS is unlikely give into any ransom demands, the recent warning from Ransomware groups towards the healthcare industry should be taken very seriously as recent US events in healthcare in US and UK shows.
“Private patient data is incredibly valuable to attackers. Hospitals store large amounts of patient data, often in an unencrypted format. This sensitive and confidential data can be sold on, or used for extortion as is the case with NHS Dumfries and Galloway.
“Systems can always be breached and often you are fighting an invisible enemy unless you have the server intrusion tools to pick up the breach in the first place.
“The Critical IT infrastructure is becoming the most desired target for the Ransomware gangs and hospitals are under immense pressure to pay the ransom to get the confidential personal records back and avoid the embarrassment and reputational damage following a breach like this.”
Healthcare continues to be a prime target for threat actors. This case should serve as another warning that those in this sector need to beef up detection and prevention so that they avoid being my next headline.
Leave a comment »