How do information controls impact different communities? Debates on Internet-enabled mass surveillance practices have increasingly dominated mainstream conversations, especially after the Snowden revelations. However, what is not as well documented is targeted surveillance operations against civil society that threaten their ability to hold governments accountable.
New York Times journalist Ben Hubbard was targeted with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware via a June 2018 SMS message promising details about “Ben Hubbard and the story of the Saudi Royal Family.” The SMS contained a hyperlink to a website used by a Pegasus operator that we call KINGDOM. We have linked KINGDOM to Saudi Arabia. In 2018, KINGDOM also targeted Saudi dissidents including Omar Abdulaziz, Ghanem al-Masarir, and Yahya Assiri, as well as a staff member at Amnesty International.
This year, Citizen Lab researchers will present on issues ranging from WeChat image filtering to the methodologies used for identifying commercial spyware abuses.
This is a living resource document providing links and descriptions to litigation and other formal complaints concerning digital surveillance and the digital surveillance industry.
Two days after the murder of award-winning Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas, two of his colleagues began receiving text messages laden with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. To date, 24 targets of Pegasus have been identified in Mexico. This case additionally illustrates an alarming trend of spyware attacks around the world specifically aimed at journalists.
In this post, we develop new Internet scanning techniques to identify 45 countries in which operators of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware may be conducting operations.
በዩናይትድ ስቴትስ ኦፍ አሜሪካ፣ በእንግሊዝና በሌሎች አገራት የሚገኙ የኢትዮጵያ መንግስት ተቃዋሚዎች የአዶቤ ፍላሽ ማሻሻያና የፒዲኤፍ ፕለግኢን በማስመሰል የተራቀቀ የስለላ ሶፍትዌር በያዙ ኢሜይሎች ዒላማ እንደተደረጉ የሚገልጽ ሪፖርት የሲትዝን ላብ ይፋ አድርጓል፡፡ ዒላማ ከተደረጉት መሀል መቀመጫውን በዩናይትድ ስቴትስ ኦፍ አሜሪካ ያደረገ የኢትዮጵያ ዲያስፖራ ብዙኃን መገናኛ፣ የኦሮምያ ሚድያ ኔትወርክ (OMN)፣ አንድ የፒኤችዲ ተማሪና አንድ የህግ ጠበቃ ይገኙበታል፡፡
Ethiopian’s penchant for commercial spyware is notorious, as is its pattern of digital espionage against journalists, activists, and other entities—many of which are based overseas—that seek to promote government accountability and are therefore viewed as political threats. Yet the Ethiopian government and others like it have faced little pressure to cease this particular strain of digital targeting.
Uncovering an operation using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware and Trident exploit framework to target Mexican journalists, lawyers, and even a minor child.
April 13-14 – New York City, USA
