Tagg: overvaking 121

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-hackers-litigation/

A trove of thousands of email records uncovered by Reuters reveals Indian cyber mercenaries hacking parties involved in lawsuits around the world – showing how hired spies have become the secret weapon of litigants seeking an edge.

…

Reuters identified 35 legal cases since 2013 in which Indian hackers attempted to obtain documents from one side or another of a courtroom battle by sending them password-stealing emails.

The messages were often camouflaged as innocuous communications from clients, colleagues, friends or family. They were aimed at giving the hackers access to targets’ inboxes and, ultimately, private or attorney-client privileged information.

https://nrkbeta.no/2022/05/11/ny-eu-lov-mot-overgrepsmateriale-kan-fore-til-omfattende-overvakning/

Onsdag la EU-kommisjonen frem et forslag til en ny lov som kan få store konsekvenser for nordmenns digitale liv. Lovforslaget er ment å bedre beskytte barn mot overgrep, men rettighetsgrupper har lenge vært bekymret for at det kan undergrave retten til privatliv og sikker kommunikasjon.

[…]

– Dette forslaget legger opp til en overvåkningsmaskin som vi aldri har sett maken til i demokratiske land, og er det nærmeste vi kommer autoritær kontroll over digitalt innhold på samme måte som de gjør i Kina, sier stipendiat Tjerand Silde ved NTNU.

Den profilerte teknologen Alec Muffett lekket tirsdag et utkast til lovforslaget. Han er svært kritisk:
– I dag er dagen EU erklærer krig mot ende-til-ende kryptering, skriver Alec Muffett på Twitter.

[…]

En rekke høyt respekterte akademikere og teknologer advarte i fjor høst mot å innføre denne typen teknologi. De mente at skanning av innhold lokalt på en digital enhet, gjerne forkortet til CSS, i ytterste konsekvens kan svekke demokratiet.

– Introduksjonen av skanning på våre personlige enheter – enheter som lagrer informasjon fra våre gjørelister, tekstmeldinger og bilder – går midt imot enkeltborgeres behov for personvern. Denne formen for masseinnsamling kan føre til omfattende nedkjølingseffekter på ytringsfriheten og faktisk på selve demokratiet, skrev ekspertene i en artikkel publisert på forskningsnettstedet arXiv.

– Vi mener at CSS verken garanterer effektiv kriminalitetsbekjempelse eller forhindrer overvåkning. Faktisk er effekten det motsatte. CSS vil skape alvorlige sikkerhets- og personvernsrisikoer for hele samfunnet, men hjelpen det kan gi politimyndigheter i beste fall er problematisk, skrev de.

[…]

Leder for IT-politiskforening i Danmark, Jesper Lund, er svært kritisk til det endelige lovforslaget. Hans organisasjon samarbeider med EDRi.
– Forslaget er et åpenbart angrep på kryptering selv om EU-kommisjonen påstår noe annet, skriver han til NRK.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/15/eu-data-watchdog-calls-for-pegasus-spyware-ban

The use of Pegasus spyware should be banned in the EU, the bloc’s data watchdog has advised, as it is a “gamechanger” offering unprecedented powers to intrude into targets’ lives.

The European data protection supervisor (EDPS) said a prohibition was necessary as the software, developed by the Israeli NSO Group, was able to secretly turn a mobile phone into a surveillance device.

Able to send or receive encrypted messages, download stored photographs, hear voice calls, access messages and secretly film through a phone’s camera, the spyware had the capacity to interfere “with the most intimate aspects of our daily lives”, the authority said.

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073828708/israel-spyware-citizens-nso-group

Israeli police have used spyware from controversial Israeli company NSO Group to hack the cell phones of Israeli citizens without judicial oversight, including activists protesting former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.

The Israeli spyware company faces mounting global scrutiny and recent U.S. sanctions for equipping regimes with powerful surveillance tools used to target human rights activists, journalists and politicians. Recently, Palestinian activists said their phones were infected with NSO spyware.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-us-state-department-phones-hacked-with-israeli-company-spyware-sources-2021-12-03/

iPhones of at least nine U.S. State Department employees were hacked by an unknown assailant using sophisticated spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group

https://www.wired.com/story/ddosecrets-police-helicopter-data-leak/

The leak illustrates the inherent risk of collecting and retaining sensitive footage that could be breached.

https://nrkbeta.no/2021/10/15/ledende-eksperter-advarer-mot-a-skanne-mobiler-for-overgrepsmateriale/

– Introduksjonen av skanning på våre personlige enheter – enheter som lagrer informasjon fra våre gjørelister, tekstmeldinger og bilder – går midt imot enkeltborgeres behov for personvern. Denne formen for masseinnsamling kan føre til omfattende nedkjølingseffekter på ytringsfriheten og faktisk på selve demokratiet, skriver ekspertene i en artikkel publisert på forskningsnettstedet arXiv.

– Vi mener at CSS verken garanterer effektiv kriminalitetsbekjempelse eller forhindrer overvåkning. Faktisk er effekten det motsatte. CSS vil skape alvorlige sikkerhets- og personvernsrisikoer for hele samfunnet, men hjelpen det kan gi politimyndigheter i beste fall er problematisk, skriver de.

– Dette kan utnyttes til sensur og overvåking av brukere. Det er ingen tekniske hindringer som stopper Apple eller noen andre i å bruke det samme verktøyet til å spore alle brukere som uttaler seg kritisk om regimer, har en annen seksualitet eller religion enn hva statslederne godtar, sier han.

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2021/10/15/the-risks-of-client-side-scanning/

https://citizenlab.ca/2021/08/engrave-danger-an-analysis-of-apple-engraving-censorship-across-six-regions/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2021/07/forensic-methodology-report-how-to-catch-nso-groups-pegasus/

Amnesty International’s Security Lab has performed in-depth forensic analysis of numerous mobile devices from human rights defenders (HRDs) and journalists around the world. This research has uncovered widespread, persistent and ongoing unlawful surveillance and human rights abuses perpetrated using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

Most recently, a successful “zero-click” attack has been observed exploiting multiple zero-days to attack a fully patched iPhone 12 running iOS 14.6 in July 2021.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/ft-editor-roula-khalaf-among-180-journalists-targeted-nso-spyware

Data leak and forensics suggest NSO’s surveillance tool used against journalists at some of world’s top media companies

A successful Pegasus infection gives NSO customers access to all data stored on the device. An attack on a journalist could expose a reporter’s confidential sources as well as allowing NSO’s government client to read their chat messages, harvest their address book, listen to their calls, track their precise movements and even record their conversations by activating the device’s microphone.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/jul/19/how-does-apple-technology-hold-up-against-nso-spyware

The iPhone maker says it is keeping pace with malware, but the Pegasus project paints a worrying picture

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/jul/18/huge-data-leak-shatters-lie-innocent-need-not-fear-surveillance

Our investigation shows how repressive regimes can buy and use the kind of spying tools Edward Snowden warned us about

Law-abiding people – including citizens and residents of democracies such as the UK, such as editors-in-chief of leading newspapers – are not immune from unwarranted surveillance. And western countries do not have a monopoly on the most invasive surveillance technologies. We’re entering a new surveillance era, and unless protections are put in place, none of us are safe.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/revealed-leak-uncovers-global-abuse-of-cyber-surveillance-weapon-nso-group-pegasus

Human rights activists, journalists and lawyers across the world have been targeted by authoritarian governments using hacking software sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, according to an investigation into a massive data leak.

The investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations suggests widespread and continuing abuse of NSO’s hacking spyware, Pegasus, which the company insists is only intended for use against criminals and terrorists.

Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/03/digital-violence-nso-group-spyware/

The research reveals new links between phone hacks and real-world violence

For the first time, researchers have mapped all the known targets, including journalists, activists, and human rights defenders, whose phones were hacked by Pegasus, a spyware developed by NSO Group

https://www.wired.com/story/french-spyware-executives-indicted-aiding-torture/

The managers are accused of selling tech to Libya and Egypt that was used to identify activists, read private messages, and kidnap, torture, or kill them.

https://nrkbeta.no/2021/06/23/forbrukerradet-vil-forby-annonser-som-forfolger-deg/

I en ny rapport tar Forbrukerrådet oppgjør med det de kaller «overvåkningsbasert reklame», noe de ønsker å forby.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avnan/bombshell-report-finds-phone-network-encryption-was-deliberately-weakened

new paper shows that two old encryption algorithms still used in mobile networks can be exploited to spy on phones’ internet traffic.

The paper has sent shockwaves through the encryption community because of what it implies: The researchers believe that the mathematical probability of the weakness being introduced on accident is extremely low. Thus, they speculate that a weakness was intentionally put into the algorithm.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/03/tiktok-just-gave-itself-permission-to-collect-biometric-data-on-u-s-users-including-faceprints-and-voiceprints/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/18/amazon-ring-largest-civilian-surveillance-network-us

One in 10 US police departments can now access videos from millions of privately owned home security cameras without a warrant