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CNN 10
Personal Info From Facebook Accounts Appear On Hacker Web site; Non- Fungible Tokens Change Digital Art World; Bees Swarm Shoppers Car. Aired 4- 4:10a ET
Aired April 08, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. A Facebook hack from two years ago is what leads off today`s show. Why are we covering this
now? Because the information from more than 530 million Facebook accounts has just been noticed on a hacker Website.
By the summer of 2019, more than 2.4 billion people were active on Facebook every month. That`s the time when the company says it found and fixed a
flaw in its system that had allowed hackers to get the personal information of hundreds of millions. Facebook ID`s, relationship status`, bios,
birthdays, all of this could be compromised.
Cyber security experts say the leaked information probably doesn`t include social security numbers or credit card numbers which are most useful to
hackers and identity thieves. But analysts say this is a reminder that no information that people share with online services can ever be guaranteed
to stay private and that people should only ever share what they would accept appearing in a public database somewhere down the line.
As far as sharing personal info goes like your password, credit card and social security numbers, security officials say you should only do that if
you have personally started the conversation or transaction not if a person or organization randomly asks you for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So hackers in this case, (inaudible) back in 2019 are able to exploit a flaw in Facebook`s systems where they were able to match
phone numbers of apparently hundreds of millions of Facebook users with their Facebook accounts. Now what that has now resulted in is someone has
posted on a hacking form the details we are told of 500 million past a billion Facebook accounts.
Phone numbers, email addresses, where people live, people`s names, all of this information really a treasure trove for cyber criminals who might want
to engage an identity theft. Right now, of the numbers by country we see 32 million accounts in the U.S. 11 million in the UK, 28 million in Saudi
Arabia and hundreds of millions more around the world.
Facebook says it has fixed that flaw that they -- they said they actually fixed the flaw back in 2019. Obviously, this data is still out there. We
asked the company if they are going to tell users. If they are going to tell people who have been affected by this. That their information is out
there, they said no comment at the moment.
One thing I should also mention is we were speaking to a cyber security expert who now has access to this data and he was able to quickly pull up
the details of two of our CNN colleagues. So a lot of people impacted by this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these options is an example of a crytocurrency like Bitcoin? Epicurean, Ethereum, Excelsior or Enervate.
Ethereum is the answer. One ether is currently valued at about $2,000.
That`s one term you`ll need to know for our next story. The other is NFT, or non-fungible token. This is like a digital stamp on a digital piece of
art. Take a drawing or short video someone creates on a computer. Once an NFT is associated with it, the token proves someone owns it. Can other
people still download the image?
Yes. It can be shared like a GIF but that ownership token is what some consumers are paying more and more money for. What`s unknown is whether
this is just a fad or a c-change in the digital art world.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JON SARLIN, CNN PRODUCER: A year ago, the pandemic cost Carlos Marcial his job as a graphic designer in Mexico City. With three kids, Marcial needed
to find a way to support his family.
CARLOS MARCIAL, GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Highest amount I would get for one of - it was around like $250. That was the most fun (ph) but the pandemic hit
and I didn`t have any other options.
SARLIN: Growing up the son of a struggling artist, he knew firsthand how difficult the life of an artist could be. So you were a full time artist
before?
MARCIAL: No I wasn`t. I wasn`t. I was just like your normal, you know, nine to five 3D designer but I had to prove that is was something that I -- that
I thought was never going to be possible or possible, you know? Never. Until crypto art and NFTs appeared.
SARLIN: Marcial is now one of the many digital artists around the world who have seen their lives turned upside down with the booming market for NFTs.
The digital tokens that have fueled the rise of an unprecedented market for digital art.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: NFT situation is just kind of exploded onto the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Christie`s is set to become the first major auction house to sell a purely digital artwork known as an NFT. NFTs are unique
digital tokens that can be traded on the block chain. By associating infinitely, copiable digital files with finite digital tokens, NFTs create
scarcity. And scarcity leads to value.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s -- it`s like a -- an unfathomable number to be quite honest. It`s just crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People`s historic $69 million auction has shaken the art world and led to an explosion of interest and dollars into the booming
world of digital art.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The historic sale by Beeple is actually going to open the eyes of art world as they know it and digital art is going to priced as
much as traditional art. And as a digital artist, I would say that I deserve it. My work deserves to be on the same shelf as traditional art,
and not just below it.
SARLIN: Osinachi`s art might look like it could be hanging in an established gallery but for a Nigerian living thousands of miles away from
the rarified galleries of New York City or London, that was an impossible dream. When you stated making art did you know any professional artists?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I -- I wouldn`t say I knew any professional artists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since 2007, Osinachi has made his art on his computer. Starting out, he didn`t know about Photoshop and he learned how to paint
digitally on a different piece of software he had access to, Microsoft Word.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The use of Microsoft was (inaudible) explore all that.
SARLIN: Now digital artists like Osinachi and Marcial are seeing their work valued like never before. Yes, a year ago you couldn`t sell your work for
more than $250. What did your last piece go for?
MARCIAL: At Ethereum`s current price, it sold for 12 eth, which is around $20,000.
SARLIN: For one piece. That`s a lot of money.
MARCIAL: It`s a lot of money. And in -- and in one year, to see how much my work has appreciated, it`s -- it`s-- it`s been mind-blowing.
SARLIN: Tell me about how exciting a moment this is for you. Someone who is not in New York, is not in London, you know, is not in Miami and many of
the, you know, traditional hubs of art. What does this mean for you?
MARCIAL: It -- it means everything. It literally means everything. It means that there are (inaudible) artists from the current world like myself can
dream big of -- of becoming big in the art world.
SARLIN: NFTs have also allowed for something artists have been dreaming of for as long as art has existed. Royalties. On many NFT sales, there are
royalties paid out to artists on secondary sales. For artists, that`s a c- change.
JASON BAILEY, FOUNDER, GREEN NFTs: I spent half my life in art school basically and all my time around artists and yet I have not run into a
single artist out of the thousands that I`ve interacted with that could make a living off of just making art full time in the first 42 years of my
life. I have now got dozens and dozens of friends who can live off of full time. Off of making artwork in part because they get to participate in the
rewards of -- of their work as it goes up in value.
SARLIN: But NFTs are not without controversy. The enormous carbon footprint that crytocurrency`s have is growing. By one estimate, Ethereum alone now
consumes as much electricity as all of Ireland and the carbon cost of crypto has created a fierce debate amongst artists about the ethics of
participating in the NFT space.
Defenders of NFTs say that the massive electricity used to power the NFT market is temporary and only a growing pain for a new technology.
BAILEY: A lot of this stuff, it`s early tech and it`s like, I`ll be the first to say it. It`s not ready and it doesn`t all work right, you know,
we`re early stage screeching modem based or whatever.
SARLIN: For now a select few of the top digital artists around the world like Marcial and Osinachi are seeing their lives transformed.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
AZUZ: There are several places where you don`t want bees. Your porch, your bonnet, your car but this is what happened when a man in New Mexico went
grocery shopping recently. He left his windows open and 15,000 bees decided to swarm in. He called 911 for help and that arrived in the form of an off-
duty firefighter who just happens to be a bee keeper.
He removed the bees from the car and took them to his own property. Don`t fight the bees with water and don`t fight the bees with fire. "Honey comb"
the "apiary" until you find the firefighter who saves these by keeping them alive.
Who`s "apiculture" thrives in "hives", he`s the best extractor, no detractor, he`s the actor who can harvest "pollenese" of "bees" with
"ease". And as "swarm factor" he`ll be on the "wing" to take the "swing" at moving "workers" and the "queen" out.
Using all the attacks to ensure it`s not your "beeswax". I`m Carl Azuz and today`s shout out goes out to Northmont High School. It is in Englewood,
Ohio. Thanks so much for subscribing to our You Tube channel and of course, for watching CNN.
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