Category Archives: Surveillance

Coalition used private contractor to collect intelligence on Nauru asylum seekers

Posted on by

Exclusive: asylum seekers in the offshore detention centre who had contact with Australian journalists, lawyers and advocates were closely watched, documents reveal

The Australian government used private security contractors to collect intelligence on asylum seekers on Nauru, singling out those who were speaking to journalists, lawyers and refugee advocates, internal documents from 2016 reveal.

Intelligence officers working for Wilson Security compiled fortnightly reports about asylum seekers “of interest”, including individuals flagged as having “links with [Australian] media”, “contact with lawyers in Australia” or “contacts with Australian advocates”.

Continue reading...

UK cybersecurity chiefs back plan to scan phones for child abuse images

Posted on by

Heads of GCHQ and NCSC say client-side scanning could protect children and privacy at the same time

Tech companies should move ahead with controversial technology that scans for child abuse imagery on users’ phones, the technical heads of GCHQ and the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre have said.

So-called “client-side scanning” would involve service providers such as Facebook or Apple building software that monitors communications for suspicious activity without needing to share the contents of messages with a centralised server.

Continue reading...

‘Asleep at the wheel’: Canada police’s spyware admission raises alarm

Posted on by

Experts warn that RCMP document detailing covert surveillance of Canadians’ mobile devices highlights lax government oversight

An admission from Canada’s national police force that it routinely uses powerful spyware to surveil citizens has prompted concern from experts, who warn the country is “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to regulating and reining in use of the technology.

During a parliamentary session in late June, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police submitted a document, first reported in Politico, outlining how a special investigative team covertly infiltrates the mobile devices of Canadians. The tools, which have been used on at least 10 investigations between 2018 and 2020, give the police access to text messages, email, photos, videos, audio files, calendar entries and financial records. The software can also remotely turn on the camera and microphone of a suspect’s phone or laptop.

Continue reading...

NSW police accused of ‘oppressive’ tactics against subjects on secretive blacklist

Posted on by

Lawyers say the ‘preventive policing’ suspect target management plan, which disproportionately focuses on Indigenous youth, uses potentially unlawful tactics

The New South Wales police have been accused of using “oppressive” and potentially unlawful tactics on subjects of a secretive blacklist disproportionately used to target young Indigenous people.

Documents released under a parliamentary order have for the first time revealed how police in the state are instructed to use the suspect target management plan, or STMP, an opaque tool previously found to have utilised “unreasonable” and “unjust” tactics against its targets.

Continue reading...

US defence contractor in talks to take over NSO Group’s hacking technology

Posted on by

Deal – which would require approval from US and Israel – would give L3Harris control over controversial Pegasus tool

The US defence contractor L3Harris is in talks to take over NSO Group’s surveillance technology, in a possible deal that would give an American company control over one of the world’s most sophisticated and controversial hacking tools.

Multiple sources confirmed that discussions were centred on a sale of the Israeli company’s core technology – or code – as well as a possible transfer of NSO personnel to L3Harris. But any agreement still faces significant hurdles, including requiring the blessing of the US and Israeli governments, which have not yet given the green light to a deal.

Continue reading...

China offers citizens cash and ‘spiritual rewards’ for spying tipoffs

Posted on by

State security ministry trying to motivate the public, says state media, as it claims foreign threats have risen

Chinese citizens can get cash rewards of more than 100,000 yuan (£12,000) and special certificates for providing tipoffs about suspected foreign spies and breaches of national security, under measures introduced by the country’s ministry of state security this week.

Rewards for exposing foreign espionage activities or other security violations have existed for years in China. The new measures, according to a state media outlet, are aimed at standardising rewards and motivating the public at a time of intensifying “threats” from foreign intelligence agencies and other quarters.

Continue reading...

Over 200 Spanish mobile numbers ‘possible targets of Pegasus spyware’

Posted on by

Data leak reveals scale of potential surveillance by NSO Group client believed to be Morocco

More than 200 Spanish mobile numbers were selected as possible targets for surveillance by an NSO Group client believed to be Morocco, according to the data leak at the heart of the Pegasus project.

Details of the scale of the apparent targeting came as Spain’s highest criminal court opened an investigation into how the mobile phones of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the defence minister, Margarita Robles, came to be infected with Pegasus spyware last year.

Continue reading...

Spanish prime minister’s phone ‘targeted with Pegasus spyware’

Posted on by

Minister for presidency says ‘illicit’ targeting will be investigated by Spain’s highest criminal court

The Spanish government has said the mobile phones of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the defence minister, Margarita Robles, were both infected last year with the Pegasus spyware that its manufacturers claim is available only to state agencies.

In a hastily convened press conference on Monday morning, Félix Bolaños, the minister for the presidency, said Sánchez’s phone was targeted in May and June 2021, while Robles’s was targeted in June 2021. Data was extracted from both phones.

Continue reading...

No 10 suspected of being target of NSO spyware attack, Boris Johnson ‘told’

Posted on by

No 10 subjected to UAE-linked spyware attack, says report, but Israeli firm suggests allegations are false

Boris Johnson has been told his Downing Street office has been targeted with “multiple” suspected infections using Pegasus, the sophisticated hacking software that can turn a phone into a remote listening device, it was claimed on Monday.

A report released by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said the United Arab Emirates was suspected of orchestrating spyware attacks on No 10 in 2020 and 2021.

Continue reading...

Catalan leaders targeted using NSO spyware, say cybersecurity experts

Posted on by

Victims said to include Pere Aragonès and Carles Puigdemont, but Israeli firm suggests claims are false

Dozens of pro-independence Catalan figures, including the president of the north-eastern Spanish region and three of his predecessors, have been targeted using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, according to a report from cybersecurity experts.

The research published on Monday by Citizen Lab, considered among the world’s leading experts in detecting digital attacks, said victims of the mobile phone targeting included Pere Aragonès, who has led Catalonia since last year, as well as the former regional presidents Quim Torra, Carles Puigdemont and Artur Mas.

Continue reading...

Victim’s iPhone hacked by Pegasus spyware weeks after Apple sued NSO

Posted on by

Quartet targeted by clients – thought to be Jordanian government agencies – of Israeli company even after Apple sued in November

New evidence has revealed that an Apple iPhone was successfully hacked by a government user of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware in December, weeks after the technology giant sued the Israeli company in a US court and called for it to be banned from “harming individuals” using Apple products.

A report published on Tuesday by security researchers at Front Line Defenders (FLD) and Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto found that phones belonging to four Jordanian human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists were hacked by government clients of NSO – which appear to be Jordanian government agencies – from August 2019 to December 2021.

Continue reading...

Twitter launches privacy-protected site on dark web to bypass Russia’s block

Posted on by

The Tor-friendly site follows moves by Facebook and BBC who also had their platforms restricted on state-owned media

Twitter has launched a privacy-protected version of its site to bypass surveillance and censorship after Russia restricted access to its service in the country.

Russia has blocked access to Facebook and has limited Twitter in an attempt to try to restrict the flow of information about its war in Ukraine. Both companies have said they are working on restoring access to people inside Russia even as they restrict the country’s state media from their services.

Continue reading...

Police use of Pegasus malware not illegal, Israeli inquiry finds

Posted on by

Police have been accused of spying on at least 26 individuals who are not criminal suspects

An inquiry into allegations that Israel’s police force systematically hacked into the mobile phones of Israeli citizens has found that while the police did use NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus malware, there is no evidence suggesting illegality.

In a series of explosive reports over the last two months, the local financial daily newspaper Calcalist accused the police of spying on at least 26 individuals who were not criminal suspects. Those named included politicians, protesters, and members of the former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle – claims Netanyahu used to delay proceedings in his corruption trial.

Continue reading...

More Polish opposition figures found to have been targeted by Pegasus spyware

Posted on by

Analysis by Amnesty International linked them to Pegasus Project leak of more than 50,000 phone numbers

The use of intrusive spyware by members of the European Union is expected to face new scrutiny following revelations that the mobile phones of two more Polish citizens with close links to an opposition senator were targeted by a client of NSO Group, according to security experts.

Forensic analysis by Amnesty International found that both Magdalena Łośko, the former assistant to Polish senator Krzysztof Brejza, and Brejza’s father, Ryszard Brejza, received text messages in 2019 that researchers said were technically consistent with spyware attacks by clients of NSO Group using Pegasus.

Continue reading...

Declassified documents reveal CIA has been sweeping up information on Americans

Posted on by

Civil liberties watchdogs condemn agency’s collection of domestic data without congressional or court approval or oversight

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been secretly collecting Americans’ private information in bulk, according to newly declassified documents that prompted condemnation from civil liberties watchdogs.

The surveillance program was exposed on Thursday by two Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico alleged that the CIA has long concealed it from the public and Congress.

Continue reading...

EU close to launching committee of inquiry into Pegasus spyware

Posted on by

Approval for rare move expected after evidence government critics in Hungary and Poland were targeted

The European parliament is preparing to launch a committee of inquiry into the Pegasus spyware scandal after evidence emerged of government critics in Poland and Hungary being targeted with the surveillance software.

The cross-party body will seek testimony from member states’ intelligence services, elected politicians and senior officials, with a previous inquiry into alleged European facilitation of CIA “black sites” providing a model.

Continue reading...

Inquiry finds Israeli police used spyware against three people, report says

Posted on by

Initial investigation is said to have found NSO Group’s Pegasus tool was used against three of 26 alleged targets

An initial investigation into allegations that Israeli police targeted citizens with spyware has confirmed that the application was indeed used against three people, according to claims by a local news station.

The Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said a police investigation ordered by Israel’s public security minister, Omer Barlev, had concluded that of 26 individuals named in recent reports as having been targeted using NSO Group’s Pegasus software, three named individuals were targeted, with the police successfully hacking only one of the phones.

Continue reading...

FBI confirms it obtained NSO’s Pegasus spyware

Posted on by

Bureau says sophisticated hacking tool was never used in support of any investigation

The FBI has confirmed that it obtained NSO Group’s powerful Pegasus spyware, suggesting that it bought access to the Israeli surveillance tool to “stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft”.

In a statement released to the Guardian, the bureau said it had procured a “limited licence” to access Pegasus for “product testing and evaluation only”, and suggested that its evaluation of the tool partly related to security concerns if the spyware fell into the “wrong hands”.

Continue reading...

NSO offered US mobile security firm ‘bags of cash’, whistleblower claims

Posted on by

Israeli spyware firm denies doing business with Mobileum and co-founder ‘has no recollection of using the phrase’

A whistleblower has alleged that an executive at NSO Group offered a US-based mobile security company “bags of cash” in exchange for access to a global signalling network used to track individuals through their mobile phone, according to a complaint that was made to the US Department of Justice.

The allegation, which dates back to 2017 and was made by a former mobile security executive named Gary Miller, was disclosed to federal authorities and to the US congressman Ted Lieu, who said he conducted his own due diligence on the claim and found it “highly disturbing”.

Continue reading...

Israeli police find ‘legally debatable’ use of spyware by investigators

Posted on by

Admission follows allegations of snooping on mobile phones of protesters, politicians and criminal suspects

Israel’s national police force has found evidence pointing to improper use of spyware by its own investigators to snoop on Israeli citizens’ phones.

The announcement on Tuesday came two weeks after an Israeli newspaper reported a string of allegations that the police had used the NSO Group’s Pegasus software to surveil protesters, politicians and criminal suspects without authorisation from a judge.

Continue reading...