Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert spoke about how repressive governments around the world have been getting assistance from Western technology companies.

This post describes the results of a comprehensive global Internet scan for the command and control servers of FinFisher’s surveillance software. It also details the discovery of a campaign using FinFisher in Ethiopia that may have been used to target individuals linked to an opposition group. Additionally, it provides examination of a FinSpy Mobile sample found in the wild, which appears to have been used in Vietnam.

On 1 February, Tech and Law Centre at the University of Milan will host Morgan Marquis-Boire with a talk on “For Their Eyes Only: The Changing Face of Online Spying ”.

SCMagazine has named Morgan Marquis-Boire on its honorable mention list of Influential IT security minds in 2012.

Archives of Citizen Lab Briefing newsletters we’ve sent. Subscribe to the Citizen Lab newsletter. Privacy Policy 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 2019 February 2019 – Citizen Lab researchers targeted, continued abuse of NSO technology in Mexico, and applications open for 2019 Citizen Lab Summer Institute 2018 November… Read more »

Research Reports Alberto Fittarelli, M. Scott, and Katekanok Wongsapakdee. “JUICYJAM: How Thai Authorities Use Online Doxxing to Suppress Dissent,” Citizen Lab Report No. 184, University of Toronto, April 16, 2025. Bill Marczak, John Scott-Railton, Kate Robertson, Astrid Perry, Rebekah Brown, Bahr Abdul Razzak, Siena Anstis, and Ron Deibert. “Virtue or Vice? A First Look at… Read more »

Legal researchers Cynthia Khoo and Kate Robertson warn that a Canada-U.S. CLOUD agreement would extend the reach of U.S. law enforcement into Canada’s digital terrain to an unprecedented extent, and that if signed, this agreement would effectively allow U.S. police to demand personal data directly from any provider of an “electronic communication service” or “remote computing service” in Canada, so long as it had some ties to the U.S.

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 »

We are excited to announce a new book, Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy, by Ronald Deibert, director and founder of The Citizen Lab, will hit shelves on February 4, 2025.

In a joint investigation with Access Now, we found that seven Russian and Belarusian-speaking independent journalists and opposition activists based in Europe were targeted and/or infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus mercenary spyware.