Featured Publications

The not-so-silent type: Vulnerabilities across keyboard apps reveal keystrokes to network eavesdroppers

In this report, we examine cloud-based pinyin keyboard apps from nine vendors (Baidu, Honor, Huawei, iFlyTek, OPPO, Samsung, Tencent, Vivo, and Xiaomi) for vulnerabilities in how the apps transmit user keystrokes. Our analysis found that eight of the nine apps identified contained vulnerabilities that could be exploited to completely reveal the contents of users’ keystrokes in transit. We estimate that up to one billion users could be vulnerable to having all of their keystrokes intercepted, constituting a tremendous risk to user security.

PAPERWALL: Chinese Websites Posing as Local News Outlets Target Global Audiences with Pro-Beijing Content

A network of at least 123 websites operated from within the People’s Republic of China while posing as local news outlets in 30 countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, disseminates pro-Beijing disinformation and ad hominem attacks within much larger volumes of commercial press releases. We name this campaign PAPERWALL. We attribute the PAPERWALL campaign to Shenzhen Haimaiyunxiang Media Co., Ltd., aka Haimai, a PR firm in China based on digital infrastructure linkages between the firm’s official website and the network. These findings confirm the increasingly important role private firms play in the realm of digital influence operations and the propensity of the Chinese government to make use of them.

Lifting the lid off the Internet.

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto, focusing on research and development at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security. Learn more.

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Features & News

Disrupting COLDRIVER: U.S. court orders seizure of domains used in Russian cyberattacks

Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit takes legal action to dismantle Russia-based threat actor COLDRIVER following a joint investigation by The Citizen Lab and Access Now. In August, The Citizen Lab, jointly with Access Now, in collaboration with First Department, Arjuna Team, and RESIDENT.ngo, published a report that uncovered two distinct spear-phishing campaigns targeting members of Russian… Read more »

New Book “Chasing Shadows” Coming Soon

We are excited to announce a new book, Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy, by Ronald Deibert, director and founder of The Citizen Lab, will hit shelves on February 4, 2025.

Featured Video

Digital attacks against exiled and diaspora women activists – re:publica 2024