Geoffrey Alexander

Articles

Commercial Spyware: The Multibillion Dollar Industry Built on an Ethical and Legal Quagmire

Ethiopian’s penchant for commercial spyware is notorious, as is its pattern of digital espionage against journalists, activists, and other entities—many of which are based overseas—that seek to promote government accountability and are therefore viewed as political threats. Yet the Ethiopian government and others like it have faced little pressure to cease this particular strain of digital targeting.

Champing at the Cyberbit: Ethiopian Dissidents Targeted with New Commercial Spyware

This report describes how Ethiopian dissidents in the US, UK, and other countries were targeted with emails containing sophisticated commercial spyware posing as Adobe Flash updates and PDF plugins. Targets include a US-based Ethiopian diaspora media outlet, a PhD student, a lawyer, and even a Citizen Lab researcher.

Safer Without: Korean Child Monitoring and Filtering Apps

South Korea requires minors to have content filtering apps installed on their phones. A security audit of two child monitoring apps—Cyber Security Zone and Smart Dream—finds serious security and privacy issues that put children at risk.

“内幕消息”:一起针对中文新闻媒体的入侵行动

加拿大多伦多大学公民实验室(Citizen Lab)研究人员发现了多个假冒中文新闻网站的域名和网站。这些中文新闻网站包括中国数字时代 明镜新闻 大纪元新闻 香港01 和 博闻社,它们经常报道被中国政府认为是禁忌或具有争议性的话题。