 The FBI investigation now underway must answer two questions about the racist text messages sent last week to the cellphones of African-Americans in at least 13 states. The first question, of course, is who is behind this? Was it a state actor – possibly Russia – seeking to drive distrust between Americans? Or was it the proverbial guy in his mom’s basement? The answer to the first question will guide us to a second important question. Given that the attack used the services of TextNow, a company that helps anonymous users to send texts from a randomly generated phone number, is this attack something that anyone (like the guy in his basement) could do? Or did these texts require sophisticated knowledge backed by serious financial and technical resources to pull off? Somehow, this attack precisely targeted African-Americans. Many of the texts landed in the phones of students at historically Black colleges and universities. Did the attackers identify people from personal data purchased by third-party data brokers? Which company did the trolls purchase this data from? How elaborate were the digital profiles of the victims assembled from purchased data? Did these profiles include their financial status, sexual lives, health issues, and private business concerns? Congress and the American public must know the answers to these questions. This attack on the well-being and sense of personal safety of Americans must be understood and countered. But this text assault should also be taken as a warning just how insecure our data is, and how refined future attacks might be. Could a hostile state, in the middle of a crisis, send an official-sounding alert to key military and government personnel that their house is on fire? Answering these questions will clarify how hostile governments, trolls, and even our own government might misuse our data. Comments are closed.
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