Collaborate Disseminate
Colleagues of slain Javier Valdez Cárdenas, known for investigating drug cartels, were targeted just days after his death. Continue reading Pegasus Spyware Targets Investigative Journalists in Mexico
One day in May 2017 after the investigative journalist Javier Cárdenas was assassinated in Mexico, two of his colleagues at the Ríodoce newspaper began receiving text messages claiming to have information about the killer. The texts sent to Andrés Villarreal and Ismael Bojórquez, Ríodoce’s director, included links promising evidence that would prove a Mexican drug cartel was behind Cárdenas’ death. But the messages in fact were a surreptitious attempt by a Mexican government-linked organization to hack the journalists’ phones with Pegasus, a hacking tool that would have allowed operators to monitor their text messages, pictures, location and covertly activate the phones’ microphone and camera. Neither man clicked the links, suspicious that public officials were somehow behind the ruse. Researchers later confirmed their hunch, according to the New York Times. “I believe they wanted to search our conversations and messages for clues to the murder of Javier, but we are absolutely against […]
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Continue reading NSO Group spyware used against two Mexican journalists following assassination
We’re living in the golden age of spyware and government hacking, with companies rushing to join a blossoming billion dollar market. The weakest among us—activists or journalists—will suffer the consequences if we don’t regulate it appropriately. Continue reading It’s Amateur Hour in the World of Spyware and Victims Will Pay the Price
A spyware attack on a Saudi dissident living in Canada made headlines this week, but Citizen Lab warns that simpler attacks are the real epidemic. Continue reading Virus Bulletin 2018: Saudi Dissident Spyware Attack Belies Bigger Threat
This is the Shared Security Weekly Blaze for September 24, 2018 sponsored by Security Perspectives – Your Source for Tailored Security Awareness Training and Assessment Solutions and Silent Pocket. This episode was hosted by … Continue reading Mobile Phone Call Scams, Pegasus Mobile Spyware, Newegg Data Breach – WB35
A source managed to see Israeli surveillance vendor NSO Group’s powerful iPhone malware up close. Despite a wave of highly controversial customers, the company appears to be popular worldwide. Continue reading They Got ‘Everything’: Inside a Demo of NSO Group’s Powerful iPhone Malware
An infamous brand of mobile spyware may be operating in 45 countries as part of a sprawling footprint that could enable human rights abuses, according to a new report. The Pegasus spyware made by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group correlated with more than a thousand IP addresses over a two year-study conducted by The Citizen Lab, a research and development organization at the University of Toronto. The Pegasus spyware attempts to lure targets into clinking on links and then delivers zero-day exploits to breach the defenses of iPhones and Android phones. Several of the countries where the researchers detected Pegasus have poor human rights records, such as Bahrain, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia. “Our findings paint a bleak picture of the human rights risks of NSO’s global proliferation,” the report states. At least 10 operators of the spyware “appear to be actively engaged in cross-border surveillance,” according to Citizen Lab, pointing to the geopolitical […]
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Continue reading Pegasus spyware active in 45 countries, Citizen Lab says
The malicious spyware has also been found in use in countries known for targeting human rights. Continue reading Dangerous Pegasus Spyware Has Spread to 45 Countries
An Amnesty International employee and Saudi Arabian activist were targeted with what appears to be commercial spyware only sold to governments. In a lengthy blog post released Wednesday, London-based Amnesty International revealed that a suspicious message with a malicious link was sent to an employee. Citizen Lab, a Canadian research organization, helped analyze the incident and posted its own set of findings, which corroborated Amnesty’s report. Both suggest that the malicious messages bore the marks of Pegasus, a highly sophisticated commercial spyware and exploitation tool sold by NSO Group, a secretive Israeli surveillance company that only sells its highly proprietary wares to authorized governments. In June, an Amnesty employee received a WhatsApp message in Arabic with Saudi Arabia-related content and a malicious link. Earlier this summer, a Saudi human rights activist living abroad also received SMS messages with a similar link. Neither were opened. Had the recipients clicked the links, researchers believe that they […]
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A suspicious WhatsApp message carried the mobile cyberweapon known as Pegasus – sold by Israel-based company NSO Group to state-level actors around the world. Continue reading Amnesty International Targeted by Nation-State Spyware