Cyber Security

Fake news is defined as: ​"False reports of events, written and read on websites"

Fake news has become more evident in today's day and age. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish the difference between the stretched truth and something that is completely false. Between 2015 and 2016 Stanford University did a study and were "...shocked into to reality" with their findings.

Out of 203 middle school students, 80% thought that believed that the words "sponsored content" meant that it was a real news article. False news comes from people trying to manipulate an audience into believeing that it is a legit and crediable source, even though at times the stories can be completely made up.

here are a few ways to see if the source is real or not

If the source has things,"Fantasy new website", ".com.co", or only lists one way to contact them, then they are likely not a real news source.

If the headline caught your attention and you are thinking about sending it to other people then stop, read a little further and decide if it is really worth sending.

The author could be fake like, "Jimmy Rustling." who allegeldy won who won "fourteen Peabody awards and a handful of Pulitzer Prizes." which is completely wrong because no one with the name "Rustling" has won a Pulitzer or Peabody award.

Sometimes websites will list offical sources, which don't support the claim at all. Other times they will list offical sounding sources which are fake.

People will likely put more stock into their information to confirm what they believe, even if it is false.