Epilepsy Foundation Was Targeted in Mass Strobe Cyberattack

[Nakamova]

Just read about this terrible attack in the NY Times. Apparently the Foundation's twitter feed was hacked to post flashing lights in order to trigger seizures in people who are photosensitive. There are some truly terrible human beings out there.

Folks can read the statement from the Epilepsy Foundation here:

Epilepsy Foundation Files Criminal Complaint and Requests Investigation in Response to Attacks on Twitter Feed

Use of flashing and strobing lights, including gifs and videos, harmful to people with epilepsy and seizures

www.epilepsy.com

And here's the Times article:

Epilepsy Foundation Was Targeted in Mass Strobe Cyberattack (Published 2019)

Hackers sent images of flashing strobe lights to the foundation’s thousands of Twitter followers in several attacks.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Fedup]

What kind of people are out there these days that would do something like that, where is all the good gone in this world.

 

[Loopy Lou]

There's some horrible people about

 

[Porkette]

Hi Nakamova,

This is wicked if I could I would report this person to the FCC and take my word they would be in hot water. I can't believe
how mean a person could be. How would they like it if someone did something like that to there own family and that person had seizures.
Thank you for sharing this article. I wish you only the best and May God Bless You!
Sue

 

[Nakamova]

Yes, you're exactly right Sue -- what if a hacker's own family member was harmed? There is an empathy gap in the world right now and it seems to be getting wider.

 

[Clovis]

It truly amazes me sometimes at just how low and awful people can be. It's also very saddening.

 

[Bernard]

CWE was similarly attacked just over 12 years ago:

https://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/threads/party-crashers-why-there-is-a-restriction-on-signatures-images-and-links.1759/

We had to implement some security measures and they worked - we've never had a repeat performance.

The NY Times published a bit over a decade ago about the psychology of folks who are drvien to do these types of things. It's an interesting read:

The Trolls Among Us (Published 2008)

A growing subculture has a fluid morality and a disdain for pretty much everyone else online.

www.nytimes.com