Category Archives: Pegasus Project

Report: Research ties Pegasus spyware on phone Jamal Khashoggi’s wife to UAE agents

Posted on by

United Arab Emirates agents loaded Pegasus spyware on the phone of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s wife months before his death, the Washington Post first reported Tuesday. The software was discovered by Citizen Lab, which examined the device at the request of the newspaper and Khashoggi’s wife, Hanan Elatr. Agents placed the spyware on her phone after seizing her from the Dubai airport in April 2018 and interrogating her, the researchers said. During the interrogations, they seized her two Android phones. Agents typed in a web address that researchers have tied to a network used to spread the spyware. The Post first reported in July that Elatr was targeted by Pegasus spyware via text messages, but researchers couldn’t tell if the hack was successful. It’s unclear if the spyware launched by UAE agents finished installing on the phone, Citizen Lab researcher Bill Marczak told the Post. However, the new findings are the […]

The post Report: Research ties Pegasus spyware on phone Jamal Khashoggi’s wife to UAE agents appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Report: Research ties Pegasus spyware on phone Jamal Khashoggi’s wife to UAE agents→

UN calls for human rights safeguards on artificial intelligence

Posted on by

The United Nations’ top human rights official Wednesday called for a global moratorium on the sale and use of artificial intelligence systems that pose human rights concerns until safeguards are put in place. “We cannot afford to continue playing catch-up regarding AI – allowing its use with limited or no boundaries or oversight, and dealing with the almost inevitable human rights consequences after the fact,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said alongside the release of a report on the emerging technology. “The power of AI to serve people is undeniable, but so is AI’s ability to feed human rights violations at an enormous scale with virtually no visibility.” The U.N. did not list specific AI tools that governments should ban. Instead, the report points to a number of ways the technology is used in decision-making that can have life-altering consequences, including the rise in the use of […]

The post UN calls for human rights safeguards on artificial intelligence appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading UN calls for human rights safeguards on artificial intelligence→

Bahrain hacked activists’ iPhones with NSO Group spyware, Citizen Lab says

Posted on by

Government hackers used NSO Group surveillance technology to infiltrate the phones of nine Bahraini activists, according to a new report from Citizen Lab. The victims included a blogger, activist, members of political organization Waad and members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Five of the targets identified by Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog from from the University of Toronto, were listed on a list of individuals obtained by Amnesty International as a part of its “Pegasus Project” investigation. The list is believed to comprise potential targets of NSO Group’s customers. Hackers used fake texts that linked out to malicious software as well as “zero-click” attacks, which do not require any user interaction. Researchers found that attackers successfully exploited the most recent versions of Apple iOS, circumventing protections introduced by the company in January to protect users against such attacks. Amnesty Tech has also reported zero-click exploits successfully exploiting iOS […]

The post Bahrain hacked activists’ iPhones with NSO Group spyware, Citizen Lab says appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Bahrain hacked activists’ iPhones with NSO Group spyware, Citizen Lab says→