The Citizen Lab announces the publication of a detailed post analyzing several pieces of malware targeting Bahraini dissidents, shared with us by Bloomberg News. The analysis suggests that the malware used is "FinSpy," part of the commercial intrusion kit, Finfisher, distributed by the United Kingdom-based company, Gamma International.

OpenNet Initiative research has documented that web filtering applied by India-based ISPs is also filtering content for customers of an ISP in Oman. This “upstream filtering” is restricting access to news sites, political blogs and file sharing sites for customer’s of Omantel, who have limited opportunities for recourse. Combined with the significant filtering implemented by Omantel itself, this essentially puts users in Oman behind multiple layers of national-level filtering.

Citizen Lab Senior Researcher Helmi Noman submitted a chapter entitled “In the Name of God: Faith-based Internet Censorship in Majority Muslim Countries” for inclusion in the Routledge Handbook of Media Law to be published in December 2012.

The Citizen Lab analyzes a recent targeted malware attack against the Tibetan community spoofing the June 14, 2012 resolution of the European Parliament (EP) on the human rights situation in Tibet. While such repurposing of authentic content for use as a malware delivery mechanism is not unusual, this incident raises serious questions surrounding the use of legitimate political resources for illegitimate ends.

In the June 19 2012 issue of the World Politics Review, Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert explores the role of Big Data and the growing political importance of the corporate giants that own and operate cyberspace.

The use of remote surveillance software against activists has been a feature of the ongoing conflict in Syria. Today, the EFF and Citizen Lab report on the use of a new toolkit by a previously observed attacker. This actor has been circulating malware which surreptitiously installs BlackShades RAT on victims machines.

“Thanks to Stuxnet, the Internet Freedom agenda, and the Arab Spring, cyberspace is now political space and matters a great deal in international relations,” writes Chris Bronk, Fellow in Information Technology Policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University.

Security Researcher and Citizen Lab Technical Advisor Morgan Marquis-Boire warns that this Trojan has been specifically crafted to target people attempting to evade government censorship. This blog post is written in Farsi.

Security Researcher and Citizen Lab Technical Advisor Morgan Marquis-Boire warns that this Trojan has been specifically crafted to target people attempting to evade government censorship. Last updated: May 30.