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.
Deibert is joined this year by French President Emmanuel Macron, whistle blower and network security expert Chelsea Manning, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, and San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.
Ksenia will be studying information controls in the region of Crimea after its annexation and information operations in the context of Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict.
On August 30, 2017 Citizen Lab’s Reckless V report received front page coverage on the New York Times. This report revealed that Claudio X. González, Director of a prominent anti-corruption organization, was targeted with government-exclusive spyware produced by the NSO Group.
Claudio X. González, the director of Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (MCCI: Mexicans Against Impunity and Corruption), becomes the 22nd known individual abusively targeted with NSO’s spyware technology in Mexico.
Citizen Lab, along with partners Open Effect, the University of New Mexico, and comic book artist Jason Li, have launched Secure Accounts as a free resource to help users better understand potential threats to their online identities and the steps they can take to protect themselves.
The purchase of a $400 million stake in spyware company NSO Group by Blackstone Group LP has reportedly fallen through. Reports of the deal attracted critical attention from a range of organizations, including Mexican NGOs involved in investigating NSO, Access Now, and Business and Human Rights.
Lawyers representing the families of three slain Mexican women were sent infection attempts with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware after questioning official accounts of the killings.
Covers possible due diligence failures at NSO Group, misuse by several customers, and an ongoing investigation by the Mexican Government.
The international investigation into the 2014 Iguala Mass Disappearance was targeted with infection attempts using spyware developed by the NSO group.
