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 »

A sophisticated spear phishing campaign has been targeting Western and Russian civil society. In collaboration with Access Now, and with the participation of numerous civil society organizations, we uncover this operation and link it to COLDRIVER, a group attributed by multiple governments to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

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.

В данном отчете рассматривается доступность некоторых видов контента в ВК для пользователей из Канады, Украины и России.

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.

Citizen Lab examined a set of documents leaked to news outlet The Intercept that describe plans to develop and launch an Iranian mobile network, including subscriber management operations and services, and integration with a legal intercept solution. If implemented fully as envisioned, it would enable state authorities to directly monitor, intercept, redirect, degrade or deny all Iranians’ mobile communications, including those who are presently challenging the regime.

重要：我們建議所有使用者立即更新他們所使用的輸入法軟體以及作業系統。並建議高風險使用者停止使用任何輸入法提供的雲端建議功能，改為使用完全離線的輸入法，以避免資料外洩。

重要：我们建议所有用户立即更新所使用的输入法软件以及操作系统。并建议高风险用户停止使用任何输入法提供的云端建议功能，改为完全离线的输入法，以避免数据外泄。 本文是完整版报告的摘要翻译。 重要发现 我们分析了常见云端拼音输入法的安全性，包含百度、荣耀、华为、讯飞、OPPO、三星、腾讯等九家厂商，并分析了它们发送用户输入内容到云端的过程是否含有安全缺陷。 分析结果指出，九家厂商中，有八家输入法软件包含严重漏洞，使我们得以完整破解厂商设计用于保护用户输入内容的加密法。亦有部分厂商并未使用任何加密法保护用户输入内容。 综合本研究和我们先前研究中发现的搜狗输入法漏洞，我们估计至多有十亿用户受到这些漏洞影响。基于下述原因，我们认为用户输入的内容可能已经遭到大规模收集： 这些漏洞影响了广泛的用户群体 用户在键盘中输入的信息极为敏感 发现这些漏洞不需要高深技术 五眼联盟过去曾利用中国应用程序中类似的漏洞施行监控 我们已向受影响的九家开发商提交这些漏洞，大部分开发商均认真看待问题并予以回应，修补了漏洞，但仍有少数输入法未修补漏洞。 在报告的末尾，我们为受漏洞影响的各方提供了综合建议，期待这些建议可以减少未来类似漏洞所造成的危害。 漏洞总结 在我们测试的九家厂商的应用程序中，仅有华为的产品未发现任何上传用户输入内容至云端相关的安全问题，其余每一家厂商都至少有一个应用程序含有漏洞，使得被动型网络攻击者得以监看用户输入的完整内容。 注：主动型网络监听攻击意指监听时必须要主动发出讯号，例如在信息传输过程中篡改少数比特数据，才能破解加密内容。主动型网络监听相对容易被侦测到。被动型网络监听攻击意指无需发出任何讯号，单纯读取传输中的的数据，即可达成解密。与主动性攻击相比，被动型网络监听攻击难以被侦测到。 图例 ✘✘ 主动和被动型网络监听者均可以破解加密的用户输入内容，已被我们成功实测 ✘ 主动型网络监听者可以破解加密的用户输入内容，已被我们成功实测 ! 加密法实操中存在弱点 ✔ 未发现问题 N/A 该产品在我们测试的设备上不提供或是不存在 输入法开发商 Android iOS Windows 腾讯† ✘ N/A ✘ 百度 ! ! ✘✘ 讯飞 ✘✘ ✔ ✔ 内置输入法开发商 装置制造商 自有 搜狗 百度 讯飞 iOS Windows 三星 ✘✘  ✔* ✘✘ N/A… Read more »

Findings from this study underscore that online and offline threats should not be viewed as separate phenomena, but rather as overlapping and mutually reinforcing.

Cyber Steward Network partner Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) will lead a public hearing at the 167 extraordinary period of session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Taking place on February 28 at 11:30 am EST, the hearing is titled “Digital Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Freedom of Expression in America”. The topics to be addressed in… Read more »