The DEA Is Buying Cyberweapons from Hacking Team
The US Drug Enforcement Agency has purchased zero-day exploits from the cyberweapons arms manufacturer Hacking Team. BoingBoing post…. Continue reading The DEA Is Buying Cyberweapons from Hacking Team
Category Archives: cyberweapons
Assange accuses CIA of “historic act of devastating incompetence”
Assange: Cache of cyber weapons was passed around “out of control” by contract hackers. Continue reading Assange accuses CIA of “historic act of devastating incompetence”
Adm. Rogers Talks about Buying Cyberweapons
At a talk last week, the head of US Cyber Command and the NSA Mike Rogers talked about the US buying cyberweapons from arms manufacturers. "In the application of kinetic functionality — weapons — we go to the private sector and say, ‘Build this thing we call a [joint directed-attack munition], a [Tomahawk land-attack munition].’ Fill in the blank," he… Continue reading Adm. Rogers Talks about Buying Cyberweapons
Leaked Product Demo from RCS Labs
We have leak from yet another cyberweapons arms manufacturer: the Italian company RCS Labs. Vice Motherboard reports on a surveillance video demo: The video shows an RCS Lab employee performing a live demo of the company’s spyware to an unidentified man, including a tutorial on how to use the spyware’s control software to perform a man-in-the-middle attack and infect a… Continue reading Leaked Product Demo from RCS Labs
NSO Group
We’re starting to see some information on the Israeli cyberweapons arms manufacturer that sold the iPhone zero-day exploit to the United Arab Emirates so they could spy on human rights defenders. EDITED TO ADD (9/1): There is criticism in the comments about me calling NSO Group an Israeli company. I was just repeating the news articles, but further research indicates… Continue reading NSO Group
iPhone Zero-Day Used by UAE Government
Last week, Apple issued a critical security patch for the iPhone: iOS 9.3.5. The incredible story is that this patch is the result of investigative work by Citizen Lab, which uncovered a zero-day exploit being used by the UAE government against a human rights defender. The UAE spyware was provided by the Israeli cyberweapons arms manufacturer NSO Group. This is… Continue reading iPhone Zero-Day Used by UAE Government
Who Said It: Trump or a Bot?
This is harder than it sounds. Continue reading Who Said It: Trump or a Bot?
Cyberweapons vs. Nuclear Weapons
Good essay pointing out the absurdity of comparing cyberweapons with nuclear weapons. On the surface, the analogy is compelling. Like nuclear weapons, the most powerful cyberweapons — malware capable of permanently damaging critical infrastructure and other key assets of society — are potentially catastrophically destructive, have short delivery times across vast distances, and are nearly impossible to defend against. Moreover,… Continue reading Cyberweapons vs. Nuclear Weapons