Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton confirms that FlexiSPY spyware was installed on two Kenyan filmmakers’ phones while the devices were in police custody. 

On August 6, join Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert for his keynote, “Chasing Shadows: Chronicles of Counter-Intelligence from the Citizen Lab,” at Black Hat 2025.

Our investigation of a spearphishing campaign that targeted senior members of the World Uyghur Congress in March 2025 reveals a highly-customized attack delivery method. The ruse used by attackers replicates a pattern in which threat actors weaponize software and websites aimed at preserving and supporting marginalized and repressed cultures to target those same communities.

The Citizen Lab’s Marcus Michaelsen and Siena Anstis published a research article in the peer-reviewed journal Democratization about the gendered forms of digital threats faced by women human rights defenders and journalists in exile and in the diaspora.  Click here to read the article.

In our first investigation into Israel-based spyware company, Paragon Solutions, we begin to untangle multiple threads connected to the proliferation of Paragon’s mercenary spyware operations across the globe. This report includes an infrastructure analysis of Paragon’s spyware product, called Graphite; a forensic analysis of infected devices belonging to members of civil society; and a closer look at the use of Paragon spyware in both Canada and Italy.

Join us on March 24, 2025, for a virtual presentation and Q&A on the gendered dimension of digital transnational repression. The Citizen Lab’s Siena Anstis, Noura Aljizawi, and Marcus Michaelsen will share key findings from their December 2024 report, “No Escape: The Weaponization of Gender for the Purposes of Digital Transnational Repression,” followed by a… Read more »

What Is This? This page is intended ONLY for users receiving an official outreach concerning possible sophisticated commercial spyware targeting. If you did not get such an outreach, this advice is probably not right for you. If you are just looking for general advice on how to be safer online we encourage you to begin… Read more »

A new documentary from HBO takes a deep dive into the world of surveillance technology and its impact on privacy, security, and human rights.

Ron Deibert and Noura Aljizawi join CBC chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault to discuss the growing issue of foreign governments’ threats and intimidation targeting exiled women activists and dissidents living in Canada.

This profile is part of the Citizen Lab’s research on digital transnational repression. Digital transnational repression arises when governments use digital technologies to surveil, intimidate and silence exiled dissidents and diaspora communities. It is part of the broader practice of transnational repression, which refers to states using methods such as harassment, coercion-by-proxy, kidnapping, and assassination… Read more »