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Facebook, the Social Network Old-timer, Turns 20

In this file photo from August 11, 2019, an iPhone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
In this file photo from August 11, 2019, an iPhone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
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Facebook, the Social Network Old-timer, Turns 20

In this file photo from August 11, 2019, an iPhone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
In this file photo from August 11, 2019, an iPhone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout spot for young people, Facebook has since become a battle-hardened behemoth that -- despite perceptions of being for boomers and parents -- continues growing and growing.
"I will never forget the day that I ran up to my high school's Mac lab and signed up for Facebook," Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg told AFP.
"You simultaneously felt that you were part of this small, exclusive community where your parents, grandparents and teachers weren't -- but also part of something much larger."
Launched as thefacebook.com by Mark Zuckerberg and three friends on February 4, 2004, the site was originally restricted to Harvard College students.
It became available to students at other US universities before opening to anyone in 2006.
Facebook became a venue for connecting with just about anyone, anywhere and by 2023 reported being used by more than 3 billion people monthly -- a three percent growth over the previous year.
"Facebook, when it launched, was revolutionary," Enberg said.
"It's hard to overstate the impact that Facebook has had on shaping everything from pop culture to politics to how we behave online."
She noted Facebook's famous "feed" that served up photos, comments, or other "posts" its algorithm figured would grab the attention of users.
The more users engaged with the social network the more it could serve up money-making ads targeted using the vast amount of information people shared at Facebook.
It is credited with having helped open the door for content to "go viral" and fueled the trend of online-only news outlets.
Ad behemoth
Facebook gained a reputation for buying or copying potential rivals, now boasting a "family" of apps including Instagram and WhatsApp.
Zuckerberg, who still heads the company, stuck to a strategy of investing heavily to gain users before integrating money-making methods that usually involved targeted ads.
Along with Google, Facebook became an online advertising giant.
In 2022 -- a bad year for the Silicon Valley-based company -- its profits reached $23 billion.
The platform "is part of the digital landscape", particularly for "millennials" born in the 1980s or 1990s, according to Enberg.
"It remains irresistible to advertisers, thanks to its reach and performance," the analyst said of Facebook.
A business model built on using people's personal data to offer more attention-grabbing content and targeted ads has earned Facebook complaints and fines.
Fresh off accusations that Russia used the platform to try to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, it became embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting scandal.
In 2021, it came under fire over whistleblower accusations that executives put profit over the safety and well-being of users.
Despite it all, Facebook has continued to grow.
And the tech titan's expansion has allowed it to invest in innovations including artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
Facebook changed its parent company name to "Meta" in late 2021, saying it was due to Zuckerberg's vision of immersive, virtual worlds referred to as the "metaverse" being the next major computing platform.
'My mom's friends'
"We might be less engaged, but we haven't walked away because there really isn't an alternative," Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said of the staying power of the aging social network.
Facebook has also struck a chord with the addition of "groups" that lets users create communities around common interests like sports, celebrities or farming that connect online but also in the real world.
Also popular are marketplace features that let people buy or sell items.
"I went on Facebook because I knew my mom's friends would be interested," 18-year-old California babysitter Ruby Hammer said of using the social network to make money.
"And also, Marketplace, because I'm looking for a car."
Hammer connects with peers by sharing photos on SnapChat and Instagram, not on Facebook.
Analyst Enberg called buying Instagram in 2012 as part of a pivot to smartphone lifestyles one of the best business decisions made by Facebook.
The move eliminated a rival, provided a new forum for ads, and appealed to younger internet users losing interest in Facebook.
"Above all, it gives the company an app to rival Snapchat and TikTok", which are ultra-popular with teenagers," according to Enberg.
Today, more than half of Facebook users are between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, according to online insights company DataReportal.
But how engaged users are with the social network remains difficult to gauge.
"I go to Facebook very little, but what I post on Instagram automatically appears on Facebook too," said analyst Milanesi.
"So, I'm certainly counted as 'active'... The figures may not reflect reality."

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North Korean Charged in Cyberattacks on US Hospitals, NASA and Military Bases

A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP
A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP
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North Korean Charged in Cyberattacks on US Hospitals, NASA and Military Bases

A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP
A man who allegedly carried out cybercrimes for a North Korean military intelligence agency has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack hospitals and health care providers in several US states. - The AP

A North Korean military intelligence operative has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack into American health care providers, NASA, US military bases and international entities, stealing sensitive information and installing ransomware to fund more attacks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

The indictment of Rim Jong Hyok by a grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, accuses him of laundering the money through a Chinese bank and then using it to buy computer servers and fund more cyberattacks on defense, technology and government entities around the world.

The hacks on American hospitals and other health care providers disrupted the treatment of patients, officials said. He's accused of targeting 17 entities across 11 US states, including NASA and US military bases, as well as defense and energy companies in China, Taiwan and South Korea, according to The AP.

For more than three months, Rim and other members of the Andariel Unit of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau had access to NASA’s computer system, extracting over 17 gigabytes of unclassified data, the indictment says. They also reached inside computer systems for defense companies in Michigan and California, as well as Randolph Air Force base in Texas and Robins Air Force base in Georgia, authorities say.

The malware enabled the state-sponsored Andariel group to send stolen information to North Korean military intelligence, furthering the country’s military and nuclear aspirations, federal prosecutors said. They've gone after details of fighter aircraft, missile defense systems, satellite communications and radar systems, a senior FBI official said.

“While North Korea uses these types of cyber crimes to circumvent international sanctions and fund its political and military ambitions, the impact of these wanton acts have a direct impact on the citizens of Kansas,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, an FBI agent based in Kansas City.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Rim, who has lived in North Korea and worked at the military intelligence agency’s offices in both Pyongyang and Sinuiju, according to court records. A reward of up to $10 million has been offered for information that could lead to him or other foreign government operatives who target critical US infrastructure.

The Justice Department has prosecuted multiple cases related to North Korean hacking, often alleging a profit-driven motive that sets the nation's cybercriminals apart from hackers in Russia and China. In 2021, for instance, the department charged three North Korean computer programmers in a broad range of hacks including a destructive attack targeting an American movie studio and the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies around the world.

In this case, the FBI was alerted by a Kansas medical center that was hit in May 2021. Hackers had encrypted its files and servers, blocking access to patient files, laboratory test results and computers needed to operate hospital equipment. A Colorado health care provider was affected by the same Maui ransomware variant.

A ransom note sent to the Kansas hospital demanded Bitcoin payments valued then at about $100,000, to be sent to a cryptocurrency address.

“Otherwise all of your files will be posted in the Internet which may lead you to loss of reputation and cause the troubles for your business,” the note reads. “Please do not waste your time! You have 48 hours only! After that the Main server will double your price.”

Federal investigators said they traced blockchains to follow the money: An unnamed co-conspirator transferred the Bitcoin to a virtual currency address belonging to two Hong Kong residents before it was converted into Chinese currency and transferred to a Chinese bank. The money was then accessed from an ATM in China next to the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge connecting China and North Korea, according to court records.

In 2022, the Justice Department said the FBI seized approximately $500,000 in ransom payments from the money laundering accounts, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital.

An arrest of Rim is unlikely, so the biggest outcome of the indictment is that it may lead to sanctions that could cripple the ability of North Korea to collect ransoms this way, which could in turn remove the motivation to conduct cyber attacks on entities like hospitals in the future, according to Allan Liska, an analyst with the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

“Now, unfortunately, that will force them to do more cryptocurrency theft. So it’s not going to stop their activity. But the hope is that we won’t have hospitals disrupted by ransomware attacks because they’ll know that they can’t get paid,” Liska said.

He also noted that a Chinese entity was among the victims and questioned what the country, which is an ally of North Korea, thinks of being targeted.

“China can’t be too thrilled about that,” he said.