Targeted Threats
Investigations into the prevalence and impact of digital espionage operations against civil society groups. For our research on Digital Transnational Repression, visit this page to explore our reports, media mentions, and resources.
Featured in Targeted Threats
Digital Transnational Repression Explained
Citizen Lab produced an animated explainer video on digital transnational repression in Canada that also highlight some of the stories of the interviewees while also protecting their identities.
Latest Research
Senior researcher Noura Aljizawi delivers testimony before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
Noura Aljizawi, senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, delivered testimony before the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR) of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on November 26, 2024, addressing the issue of transnational repression in developing democracies.
Senior fellow Lex Gill delivers testimony to the Foreign Interference Commission
Lex Gill, senior fellow at The Citizen Lab, delivered impactful comments to the Foreign Interference Commission at the public consultation hearing for the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions this October. She argues that concerns regarding foreign interference cannot be used to justify rights-infringing powers for Canada’s national security… Read more »
No Escape: The Weaponization of Gender for the Purposes of Digital Transnational Repression
Building upon our prior research and the contributions of other scholars to this field, the aim of this novel study is to understand the security risks and harms caused by digital transnational repression against exiled and diaspora women human rights defenders.
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 »
Gender-based digital transnational repression as a global authoritarian practice: Article by The Citizen Lab published in Globalizations
In a recent article published in the peer-reviewed journal Globalizations, The Citizen Lab’s Siena Anstis, senior legal researcher, and Émilie LaFlèche, former legal intern, examine how digital abuse against women exacerbates the sexism and patriarchal structures that exist in the physical world.