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By SecureWorld News Team
Fri | Sep 14, 2018 | 8:15 AM PDT

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg just posted a lengthy blog about the social media giant's increasing sophistication when it comes to security and elections. 

Writes Zuckerberg:

"In 2016, our election security efforts prepared us for traditional cyberattacks like phishing, malware, and hacking. We identified those and notified the government and those affected. What we didn't expect were foreign actors launching coordinated information operations with networks of fake accounts spreading division and misinformation."

As we always hear at SecureWorld conferences, security is an arms race. And Facebook says it has a new weapon: Machine Learning.

"With advances in machine learning, we have now built systems that block millions of fake accounts every day. In total, we removed more than one billion fake accounts—the vast majority within minutes of being created and before they could do any harm—in the six months between October and March. You can track our progress in removing fake accounts through our Transparency Report."

And in addition to Machine Learning, Facebook now has more real people on the elections security case.

"We've also hired a lot more people to work on safety and security—up from 10,000 last year to more than 20,000 people this year."

Facebook's leader finished his blog post like this:

"One of the important lessons I’ve learned is that when you build services that connect billions of people across countries and cultures, you're going to see all of the good humanity is capable of, and you're also going to see people try to abuse those services in every way possible.

As we evolve, our adversaries are evolving too. We will all need to continue improving and working together to stay ahead and protect our democracy."
 
These are just snippets, but you can read Facebook's latest statement on election interference for yourself. 
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