Anonymous hacks in Colombia and other tech news of the week

These days, a global drop in Instagram stories was also reported and the situation of former President Donald Trump was defined on Facebook.

This week, the protests of the national strike also extended to the virtual environment.

The Anonymous hacker group claimed responsibility for the fall of several pages of the Colombian government and the interception of communications from the Police. In addition, thousands of users denounced that their stories on Instagram about the mobilizations were deleted for several hours, a fact that was added to failures in internet and electricity services in several cities of the country.

We tell you this and more about what you shouldn’t have missed in terms of technology.

Donald Trump will remain suspended on Facebook and Instagram

Facebook’s supervisory panel, a kind of independent “supreme court” that must decide in certain cases related to content on the platform, determined that the suspension of former President Donald Trump on Facebook and Instagram should be maintained.

This block was a decision that Facebook made on January 7 for its publications during the riots in the US Capitol, which severely violated the company’s rules.

Still, the Board also found that Facebook broke its own rules by imposing an “indefinite” suspension. This penalty is not outlined in Facebook’s content policies and gives it full discretion on when to impose or lift it, the panel said.

Within 6 months from today, Facebook must review this matter and decide on a new sanction that reflects its rules, the severity of the violation, and the possibility of future harm. Facebook may impose a limited-time suspension or account deletion. (Read the full news here).

Anonymous attacks pages of the Colombian Government

The Anonymous hacker movement, which operates in various parts of the world, claimed responsibility for the fall of the websites of the Army, the Senate and the Presidency in Colombia on May 5, when they stopped working for a few hours.

Also read: Three in one: Anonymous says it hacked pages of the Senate of Colombia and the Presidency

The group also assured on Twitter that it changed the descriptions of the profiles of the Colombian National Army and the Minister of Defense, Diego Molano. “We will sabotage any trend that is not relevant or that tries to divert attention from the systematic violation of human rights that is taking place today in Colombia,” they said on the platform.

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At around 11 pm that day, the Anonymous account reported that it had accessed the radio communications of the Police and attached a streaming in which the communications of the uniformed men could be heard.

For about 45 minutes, several Internet users were listening carefully to what the police officers were talking about. One of them was even heard warning that they were being heard by thousands of people.

Twitter suspends Anonymous account linked to leaks

Last Friday, the Twitter platform permanently suspended one of the accounts that it operates under the name of Anonymous in Colombia: the @AnonymousOpCOL profile.

According to the company, the measure was taken for the violation of the platform’s rules “specifically our policy on private information.”

And it is that in the attack against the Army page, Anonymous affirmed that it was able to obtain passwords and email addresses of at least 168 soldiers , as a form of support for the national strike that is taking place in the country. These data were disclosed through social networks.

Get the full response from Twitter in this article.

Users report connectivity failures

This week, several users reported intermittent telephone and internet services in some cities, especially in Cali on May 4.

Movistar reported supply failures for domestic users in Cali (Aguablanca district) due to the cutting of fiber optic cables in an incident of vandalism. It says this affected the connectivity of about 7,000 users .

In the capital of Valle there were also failures in one of the nodes of the Cable & Wireless company that provides the transport network service. “The failure, reported since 8 pm on Wednesday, May 5, affected the voice service in communes 10, 11, 12, 15, 19 and 20,” said the Mintic.

As of May 8, the ministry reports that due to road blockages, more than 1,200 accesses are in partial solution in some areas of the city of Cali and Palmira, caused by hardware damage and power failures.

In the rest of Valle del Cauca, work continues to restore the mobile service in 2 points in the city of Palmira, 2 in Candelaria, and 1 in Buenaventura, most of them caused by fiber cut, power failures and hardware problems.

In Bogotá, an operator reports execution of service restoration work at 74 points, most of them related to broadband and advanced IP connectivity.

Instagram posts fall

On Thursday, May 13, there were also complaints from users of the social network Instagram in Colombia who claimed that some publications they made within the platform’s stories module began to disappear. Some believed this was due to the type of content shared, most of which had to do with the national strike.

We suggest you read: What happened to the publications on Instagram during the national strike?

Adam Mosseri, director of Instagram, assured that the platform experienced a technical error that affected the stories, highlights and files of millions of people around the world. He also clarified that the error was not related to the content or hashtag but to a widespread problem.

“People from all over the world, from Colombia to Jerusalem , use our platform to share what is happening. We know it was a really bad experience. Ultimately, I am responsible for the stability of Instagram. I’m really sorry, “Mosseri said on his Twitter account.

Although the company denied that the blocks had to do with acts of censorship, the case reopened the debate on the moderation of online content, a particularly sensitive issue in the midst of a social outbreak like the one Colombia is experiencing.