On October 4, Monday, Facebook and other Mark Zuckerberg social networks – such as Instagram and Whatsapp – decreased During about seven hours, starting at 4:30 pm (Lisbon time). Even with most social networks inaccessible, theories about the cause of this “blackout” continued to circulate.
We have analyzed some of Theories that are becoming popular on Twitter – The only one of the most used social networks that has not been affected by the “blackout”, as it is not affiliated with the Facebook company.
1. Attack by the group Anonymus
An account named @AnonymusNews – which uses the name of the group that has been associated since the late 2000s with the activities of hacktivism (joins the pirate and activity) – it was reported that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were Hacked to me Extracting highly confidential information and conversations from governments around the world..
It is important to note that there is no evidence that this account has any connection with the Anonymus group. There are many people on social networks who use the terms even though there is no connection between them and the group.
On the other hand too There is no evidence that the “blackout” was the result of a cyber attack. according to release Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, the “blackout” was due to “configuration changes in the structure routers which coordinates network traffic “between corporate data centres”. They add, “This disruption to network traffic had a ripple effect on how our data centers communicate with each other, disrupting our services.”
The next day, Facebook added to the note that No malicious activity detected: “We want to make it clear that there was no malicious activity behind this outage – it was caused by a wrong configuration change on our part. User data has been hacked As a result of this opacity. “The company also apologizes to users and merchants for the inconvenience caused by the situation.
Journalist Brian Krebs, who investigates cybercrime, security and privacy, also posted a… Article – Commodity Where he explains the reason for the “blackout” on social networks. “We don’t yet know why this happened, but how it was clear: This morning, something happened inside Facebook because of the company Revoke key digital records Computers and other internet-enabled devices tell how to find these destinations Online, explains the journalist.
There may be an update in the file Gateway Protocol (BGP), the mechanism that allows all devices to access a specific device website. In simpler terms, something happened on Facebook this morning, which is A map that tells computers around the world how to find their different properties Online. The result, when typing Facebook.com at Browser Internet Browser He has no idea where to find Facebook.com, and it shows an error page. “
to the platform Fact Check Spanish Maldita.esAnd computer and cyber security experts suggest that the problem is likely related to field systems (DNS) associated with the BGP system. Whereas, DNS indicates the direction in which the server is located. LocationPaul Aguilar, Head of Digital Security at Mexican organization SocialTIC, explains that BGP is the technology that shows the way to connect to the server.
2. Withholding erased evidence after Francis Hogan’s complaint
Several users associated this “blackout” with Complaints filed By Frances Hogan Former Product Manager for Facebook Disinformation. Less than 24 hours before the social media crash, an interview was held on CBS 60 Minutes in which Haugen, who has released company reports and documents, first introduced himself.
On Twitter, consider some people “Incredibly fishy” That the “blackout” occurred right after the denunciations, even going so far as to say that it was Scheme “to destroy evidence”.
There is no evidence that these seven hours of social media outage obscured data or evidence. By the way, “The New York Times” explain This is very Facebook internal system affected In this case, leaving employees unable to access any item within the network, including simple E-mail.
3. The primary icon has been deleted and Facebook deleted forever
The post is accompanied by an image that looks like a DNS listing. In the description, one of the files Most fatalistic theories: “Someone deleted a large section of the referral…that doesn’t mean Facebook just down, apparently…it just means that Facebook disappeared. “
This theory is obviously wrong because Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are already Returned to active and was not eliminated. At this point, you will be able to access any of the networks without any problem. The platforms were active again at 00:00 (Lisbon time), seven hours after they fell.
4. Setting military servers at Facebook headquarters
In another theory circulated on social networks – this time on tik tok (whatever is erased) – Mention that US Army confiscates Facebook serversAt the company’s headquarters, the activity of the three social networks was interrupted.
“The military has broken into Facebook’s headquarters in California and withdrawn all its servers. Facebook is now down indefinitely,” says the author of the video.
But this statement is also False. As confirmed by Tom Parnell, Director of Communications at Facebook, confirmed to the platform Fact Check “Bullet Stories”. NS Location The American tried to contact the Ministry of Defense to clarify this claim, but has not received a response so far.
5. Attacks pirates Chinese on Facebook
The post linking the “blackout” to the Anonymus group attack wasn’t the only one to suggest a link with pirates. Twitter user I decided to share the theory that “Facebook revealed that the recent outage of its apps and services was due to a… a group of pirates sponsored by the Chinese state Known as Xian Hughjanus.”
The user also quotes Sheryl Sandberg – who is in fact the CEO of Facebook – as saying that the company is “collaborating with the FBI” and that “this is the Third assault Online from China In the past three days.”
To make the information credible, the user has changed his account name and photo so that it looks similar to a financial news newspaper.”Bloomberg“, with nuances – instead of “Bloomberg”, the name was “Bloomberg”. The use of images similar to those in newspapers is common and is intended to make the information conveyed be credible.
One user ended up posting another tweet where it says that Shared information ‘was a joke’. However, the original post has already exceeded four thousand shares and six thousand Likes. In addition to being considered a “joke”, there is no evidence that the “blackout” was caused by cyber attacks.
6. Drones fall from the sky and Facebook fails
There is still a file Video Which is being circulated and attributed to the failure of social media. NS section 50 seconds showing several drones falling from the sky in China. It is mentioned in stock descriptions that the fall of the devices occurred after the disruption of the work of social networks.
But it is fake. How do you explain the platform? Fact Check Maldita.es, This video was posted at least two days before the “blackout” of social networks. The second explains Location “vice“Which was reported by the Chinese channel “Henan TV”, This moment was captured on October 1, in a shopping center in Zhenzhou – that is, there is no It has absolutely nothing to do with Facebook.
7. Facebook won’t work “three days in a row”
There were also those who shared on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp that “they won’t work while it’s on.” Three days in a rowPublications (such as, for example, He is NS He is) Provide an image with the extension the design page style”iProfessional.com“ News platform.
In fact, the original title The post was “The Fall of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram: They Don’t Work” NS He did not mention any breaks for three days. currently Available address is “WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram crash: Services are backing up”.
There are still those who believe that this black out can be one Preview of the new reality: The QAnons – a group that believes a secret gang is plotting against former US President Donald Trump – has labeled this “blackout” as “ten days of darkness”, one of the signs expected in 2017.
The company’s chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, announced on Twitter That Facebook’s services are back Online“Warning that it may take some time for them to be 100% up and running. I apologize to all small and large businesses, families and individuals who depend on us.”
Therefore, it is wrong that the “blackout” on social networks lasts several days. In fact, the system resumed about seven hours after it was shut down.
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