Dirty Tricks by State

Pegasus Phone Hacks l Rahul Gandhi, Prashant Kishor and … full list of Targets l India’s Watergate ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoOpQP0hDWw The political impact of the phone-hacking scandal using Israeli Software Pegasus saw the opposition demanding the government explain how these hacks took place. The government has denied the charge. Recent reports reveal Rahul Gandhi as a potential spyware target around the 2019 polls and even after. Barkha Dutt discusses the issue with

Nikhil Pahwa (Medianama), https://youtube.com/embed/XoOpQP0hDWw?start=249&end=588   this kind of surveillance is anti-democratic. Need to move towards having strong surveillance reform with a great deal of accountability from Government, as there is no transparency even with parliamentarians. Also there is  no oversight except for govt being accountable to the government itself!

Nikhil Pahwa (Medianama) TEchnically there are multiple modes of delivery of the software, Once it is in, it can monitor all your communications and send this information to those who want that info.

Vijaita Singh (The Hindu). https://youtube.com/embed/XoOpQP0hDWw?start=590&end=762    

 https://youtube.com/embed/XoOpQP0hDWw?start=1489&end=1552 how can the govt say that there has been no unauthorised surveillance, if they have not not launched an inquiry, or investigation.. it perhaps means that you have authorised whatever intervention has taken place..  

Shivam Shankar Singh (Author), why cast aspersions . https://youtube.com/embed/XoOpQP0hDWw?start=1552&end=1816 The issue is that if this kind of surveillance is not by the government, then it is a major national security issue in which case  govt should be must more vigilant.  The surveillance of those who are considered close to the government, could be because the need to control, you may want information so you can have a vision of what they are doing, and therefore know how to control things.

Sandip Ghose (Commentator), https://youtube.com/embed/XoOpQP0hDWw?start=762&end=1226   Lots of assumptions: person should be held innocent till held guilty, so why blame the govt.  The tech is such that any other organisation can build it, besides NSO.. tech has advanced and access to it has increased.. therefore the issue of accountability..

RECKLESS EXPLOITMexican Journalists, Lawyers, and a Child Targeted with NSO Spyware  https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/96731/1/Report%2393--recklessexploit.pdf

Key Findings

Over 76 messages with links to NSO Group’s exploit framework were sent to Mexican journalists, lawyers, and a minor child (NSO Group is a self-described “cyber warfare” company that sells government-exclusive spyware).›

The targets were working on a range of issues that include investigations of corruption by the Mexican President, and the participation of Mexico’s Federal authorities in human rights abuses.›

Some of the messages impersonated the Embassy of the United States of America to Mexico, others masqueraded as emergency AMBER Alerts about abducted children.›

At least one target, the minor child of a target, was sent infection attempts, including a communication impersonating the United States Government, while physically located in the United Stat

The Million Dollar Dissident NSO Group’s iPhone Zero-Days used against a UAE Human Rights Defender  https://citizenlab.ca/2016/08/million-dollar-dissident-iphone-zero-day-nso-group-uae/ 

Group5 Syria and the Iranian Connection https://citizenlab.ca/2016/08/group5-syria/
By John Scott-Railton, Bahr Abdul Razzak, Adam Hulcoop, Matt Brooks, and Katie Kleemola

Amazon Shuts Down NSO Group Infrastructure https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgx5bw/amazon-aws-shuts-down-nso-group-infrastructure Amazon Web Services (AWS) has shut down infrastructure and accounts linked to Israeli surveillance vendor NSO Group, Amazon said in a statement. 

The move comes as a group of media outlets and activist organizations published new research into NSO's malware and phone numbers potentially selected for targeting by NSO's government clients.

As part of that research, Amnesty wrote that a phone infected with NSO's Pegasus malware sent information "to a service fronted by Amazon CloudFront, suggesting NSO Group has switched to using AWS services in recent months." The Amnesty report included part of the same statement from Amazon, showing Amnesty contacted the company before publication. 

Hooking Candiru Another Mercenary Spyware Vendor Comes into Focus  https://citizenlab.ca/2021/07/hooking-candiru-another-mercenary-spyware-vendor-comes-into-focus/ By Bill Marczak, John Scott-Railton, Kristin Berdan, Bahr Abdul Razzak, and Ron Deibert July 15, 2021

The company known as “Candiru,” based in Tel Aviv, Israel, is a mercenary spyware firm that markets “untraceable” spyware to government customers. Their product offering includes solutions for spying on computers, mobile devices, and cloud accounts. Like many of its peers, Candiru appears to license its spyware by number of concurrent infections, which reflects the number of targets that can be under active surveillance at any one instant in time. Like NSO Group, Candiru also appears to restrict the customer to a set of approved countries.

Candiru’s apparent widespread presence, and the use of its surveillance technology against global civil society, is a potent reminder that the mercenary spyware industry contains many players and is prone to widespread abuse. This case demonstrates, yet again, that in the absence of any international safeguards or strong government export controls, spyware vendors will sell to government clients who will routinely abuse their services. Many governments that are eager to acquire sophisticated surveillance technologies lack robust safeguards over their domestic and foreign security agencies. Many are characterized by poor human rights track records. It is not surprising that, in the absence of strong legal restraints, these types of government clients will misuse spyware services to track journalists, political opposition, human rights defenders, and other members of global civil society.

Mysterious Israeli Spyware Vendor’s Windows Zero-Days Caught in the Wild  https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvz5yv/israeli-spyware-vendor-candiru-zero-day-exploits-microsoft-citizen-lab  The company said it detected hacking attempts on more than 100 victims including "politicians, human rights activists, journalists, academics, embassy workers, and political dissidents" in Palestine, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Spain, UK, and other countries. Citizen Lab said it was able to identify and reach out to a victim who let its researchers analyze their computer and extract the malware.