Collaborate Disseminate
Security researchers have found a new kind of government malware that was hiding in plain sight within apps on Android’s Play Store. And they appear to have uncovered a case of lawful intercept gone wrong. Continue reading Researchers Find Google Play Store Apps Were Actually Government Malware
Obtaining vulnerabilities for fully up-to-date mobile phones is getting harder. So companies that sell exploits to governments are increasingly looking for attacks that target internet routers instead, with one company paying up to $100,000. Continue reading As Phones Get Harder to Hack, Zero Day Vendors Hunt for Router Exploits
Hacker Lauri Love has failed to get his computers back six years after UK’s National Crime Agency took them as part of a criminal investigation. Continue reading Hacker Lauri Love denied bid to get computers back
The founders of NSO Group, a controversial Israeli spyware vendor, said Thursday that they had re-acquired the company from private equity firm Francisco Partners. NSO Group co-founders Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie led the acquisition and promised more growth for the company, which reported dozens of customers and $250 million in revenue in 2018. NSO Group did not reveal the terms of the deal, which was supported by Novalpina Capital, a London-based firm. Sources had told CyberScoop in June of 2017 that Francisco Partners was asking for more than $1 billion for NSO Group. Francisco paid $120 million for a majority stake in the company in 2014. NSO Group says it lawfully sells its surveillance technology to governments to combat terrorism and organized crime. However, the company’s signature Pegasus spyware has been used to target journalists, anticorruption watchdogs and political dissidents, according to research from Amnesty International and the University of […]
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Security alerts become opt-out by default from 10 October because so few admins opted in. Continue reading Google ramps up G Suite protections against government-backed attacks
Security alerts become opt-out by default from 10 October because so few admins opted in. Continue reading Google ramps up G Suite protections against government-backed attacks
Fresh off the release of its national cybersecurity strategy, the Trump administration gauged interest at the United Nations in restarting talks on global cybersecurity norms. The negotiations, which collapsed last year amid reported acrimony among the U.S., Russia and others, aim to set limits on government-backed hacking at a time when offensive operations are abundant. At a meeting Friday with representatives of more than 20 countries, Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan raised the prospect of restarting the norms dialogue at the U.N. Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), according to a State Department statement. Sullivan told reporters the department hopes to reconvene the GGE “to define norms of behavior that states will abide by and, if they don’t, to impose consequences.” “[N]onbinding norms of responsible behavior during peacetime provides important guidance to states, and we’re looking to develop those,” Sullivan said, echoing language in the administration’s new cyber strategy. Furthermore, he […]
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Inside the secretive industry that helps government hackers get around encryption. Continue reading How a Tiny Startup Became the Most Important Hacking Shop You’ve Never Heard Of
Security researchers uncover several years-long espionage and hacking campaigns, pinpointing them to a specific building in Beirut, Lebanon. Continue reading Lebanese Government Hackers Hit Thousands of Victims With Incredibly Simple Campaign
More and more governments are using cyberweapons like malware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against internal critics and dissidents, making online attacks the second-most-common form of repression after actual arrests, according to a new report from human rights group Freedom House. “Cyberattacks became more common due in part to the increased availability of relevant technology, which is sold in a weakly regulated market, and in part to inadequate security practices among many of the targeted groups,” the group states in its 2017 Freedom on the Net report, adding that falling prices and widening proliferation of cyberweapon technology means that even local officials and police have access. “The relatively low cost of cyberattack tools has enabled not only central governments but also local government officials and law enforcement agencies to obtain and employ them against their perceived foes,” like human rights advocates or watchdogs seeking to expose corruption and abuse, the report warns. Freedom House says governments […]
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