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.

Featured Publications

Chinese censorship following the death of Li Keqiang

As part of our ongoing project monitoring changes to Chinese search censorship, we tracked changes to censorship following Li Keqiang’s death across seven Internet platforms: Baidu, Baidu Zhidao, Bilibili, Microsoft Bing, Jingdong, Sogou, and Weibo. We found that some keyword combinations in search queries triggers hard censorship whereas others trigger soft censorship. Our results demonstrate China’s ongoing efforts to push state-sanctioned narratives concerning politically sensitive topics, impacting the integrity of the online information environment.

Finding You: The Network Effect of Telecommunications Vulnerabilities for Location Disclosure

This report provides a comprehensive guide to geolocation-related threats sourced from 3G, 4G, and 5G network operators. Case studies, references, examples, and evidence are provided to give a complete and contextual understanding of mobile network-based location tracking in order to formulate policies and actions that protect civil society from current and future geolocation surveillance.

PREDATOR IN THE WIRES: Ahmed Eltantawy Targeted with Predator Spyware After Announcing Presidential Ambitions

Between May and September 2023, former Egyptian MP Ahmed Eltantawy was targeted with Cytrox’s Predator spyware via links sent on SMS and WhatsApp after Eltantawy publicly stated his plans to run for President in the 2024 Egyptian elections. As Egypt is a known customer of Cytrox’s Predator spyware, and the spyware was delivered via network injection from a device located physically inside Egypt, we attribute the attack to the Egyptian government with high confidence.

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

Job Opportunity: Communication Strategist

We are pleased to announce that The Citizen Lab is hiring a Communication Strategist. Reporting to the Director of Administration, Citizen Lab and working under the general direction of the Director, Citizen Lab, the Communication Strategist develops the strategic plan for increasing the Citizen Lab’s profile and presence in the national and international community and… Read more »

Call for applications: Information Controls Fellowship Program 2024

The Citizen Lab co-founded the program with OTF and has been a host organization since its inception. We welcome proposals from fellowship candidates for research projects related to our current thematic areas and applications are open to people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines and can include students and junior to mid-career practitioners.

Mobile security vulnerabilities threaten millions in Latin America: ICFP and Citizen Lab fellow Beau Kujath finds security vulnerabilities in mobile applications in Latin America region.

In a new study, Citizen Lab sheds light on the massive security threats facing Latin Americans. Citizen Lab and Open Technology Fund (OTF) fellow Beau Kujath in collaboration with SocialTIC finds that mobile applications in Latin America puts millions of users at a security and privacy risk. Beau’s research focuses on three types of mobile… Read more »

Assistant Professor, Information Security

The Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto invites applications for a full-time tenure stream position in the area of Information Security. The appointment will be at the rank of Assistant Professor, with an expected start date of July 1, 2024, or… Read more »

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Mercenary spyware: Defending against what’s next – iMEdD International Journalism Forum 2023