CyberSecurity in the News

Project Description

For this project, I had to find and share examples of security/cybersecurity issues reported in the media and evaluate my source. I also took the CCBC CSIT training where I learned how to identify different types of online scams and how to protect my personal and professional data.

Cybersecurity in the News Articles

Text scams warning of unpaid road tolls 

This article shares an increase in unsolicited texts, claiming that it is the last warning for unpaid tolls and E-ZPass bills. There have been more than 60,000 reports of the scam to the FBI''s Internet Crime Complaint Center across the U.S.. These scams can be prevented by increased awareness of the scam. Because it operates through text messages, it is important to let the general public know that there are these scams going around and not to click on any links that they receive through texts randomly, especially on those concerning state or country services, such as the E-ZPass or tolls. 

Source Evaluation

• Who published the content? Kevin Collier

• Where was it published? NBC News

• When was it published? March 14, 2025

• The truthfulness and integrity of the facts: Considered accurate, has references and quotes from major government agencies

• How is it written and presented? Article is meant to inform, minimal grammar and spelling mistakes 

• Links and Citations: embedded links that lead to other NBC articles, includes a video from NBC Nightly News

ChatGPT, Grok are fueling unthinkable scams that go beyond identity theft.

Cyber experts are warning of a rise in the misuse of AI, specifically in identity theft beyond document forgery, pontentially causing major cybersecurity breaches. AI creates fake imagery using personal photos, allowing scammers to use these generated visuals without consent of the victim. Some examples are AI avatars impersonating CEOs, selfies being manipulated into a sexual context to blackmail victims, and using AI-generated faces and irises to trick facial recognition systems. We could protect ourselves from this type of incident by creating stricter guidelines and safeguards for content that was created through an AI generator, whether it be visible or in the metadata. Along with this, the law must be continuously updating their cyber forensic capacity and educate the public that this is a possibility, especially for those who are older and do not understand the lengths AI can go to. 

Source Evaluation

• Who published the content? Govind Choudhary

• Where was it published? Mint (#1 E-Paper in India)

• When was it published? April 10, 2025

• The truthfulness and integrity of the facts: Considered accurate, has references and quotes from major government agencies

• How is it written and presented? Article is written to inform, written professionally with minimal grammatical errors, has some ads 

• Links and Citations: embedded links that lead to other articles on the site

My Certificate

Part of my assignment for this module was to complete the CCBC Cybersecurity Training. I learned a lot about how to prevent my computer from being hacked and precautions that I need to take when it comes to my personal and my professional technology.