El Nacional and QPEV Face Restrictions Following a False Report Sent Using Roberto Deniz’s Identity
Between March 4 and 6, 2023, Que Pasa En Venezuela and El Nacional faced temporary restrictions following a false report of plagiarism or copyright infringement sent from an account impersonating journalist Roberto Deniz. No theft of credentials, data breach, or compromise of Deniz’s accounts was reported.
Overview
Missing evidence
Impact details
QPEV and El Nacional temporarily lost or had restricted access to publishing and administration following a copyright infringement complaint filed under a false identity. The verified impact is the abuse of content and service availability, as well as the integrity of the information; no data exposure or account compromise has been reported.
Classification & severity
- Category
- Fraud
- Subtype
- impersonation or false copyright complaint
- Confidence
- High
The verified mechanism was identity theft and the abuse of copyright infringement or plagiarism reporting processes, not credential phishing.
Severity assessment
Medium- Functional impact
- Degraded (non-critical)
- Information impact
- Integrity loss
- Affected scope
- Organization-wide
- Critical service
- None
- Public confidence
- Limited
- Recoverability
- Supplemented
A documented incident of identity theft or misuse of content. No theft of credentials, data exposure, or confirmed identity of the perpetrator has been reported.
Timeline
El Nacional receives the first false report of copyright infringement or plagiarism via an email sent by someone posing as Roberto Deniz.
"What's Happening in Venezuela?" loses administrative access or faces restrictions after the false complaint is forwarded to its web hosting provider or data center.
El Nacional lost access to the publication for several hours after receiving the same false copyright infringement claim.
Voces del Sur / IPYS Venezuela publishes a report documenting the false accusation and the media outlets affected.