Surveillance
Hooking Candiru Another Mercenary Spyware Vendor Comes into Focus https://citizenlab.ca/2021/07/hooking-candiru-another-mercenary-spyware-vendor-comes-into-focus/ By Bill Marczak, John Scott-Railton, Kristin Berdan, Bahr Abdul Razzak, and Ron Deibert July 15, 2021
The company known as “Candiru,” based in Tel Aviv, Israel, is a mercenary spyware firm that markets “untraceable” spyware to government customers. Their product offering includes solutions for spying on computers, mobile devices, and cloud accounts. Like many of its peers, Candiru appears to license its spyware by number of concurrent infections, which reflects the number of targets that can be under active surveillance at any one instant in time. Like NSO Group, Candiru also appears to restrict the customer to a set of approved countries.
Candiru’s apparent widespread presence, and the use of its surveillance technology against global civil society, is a potent reminder that the mercenary spyware industry contains many players and is prone to widespread abuse. This case demonstrates, yet again, that in the absence of any international safeguards or strong government export controls, spyware vendors will sell to government clients who will routinely abuse their services. Many governments that are eager to acquire sophisticated surveillance technologies lack robust safeguards over their domestic and foreign security agencies. Many are characterized by poor human rights track records. It is not surprising that, in the absence of strong legal restraints, these types of government clients will misuse spyware services to track journalists, political opposition, human rights defenders, and other members of global civil society.
Mysterious Israeli Spyware Vendor’s Windows Zero-Days Caught in the Wild https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvz5yv/israeli-spyware-vendor-candiru-zero-day-exploits-microsoft-citizen-lab The company said it detected hacking attempts on more than 100 victims including "politicians, human rights activists, journalists, academics, embassy workers, and political dissidents" in Palestine, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Spain, UK, and other countries. Citizen Lab said it was able to identify and reach out to a victim who let its researchers analyze their computer and extract the malware.
Is the Modi government behind phone tapping? Pegasus I Modi Govt. I Phone tapping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2qBHJ2JLZM
पत्रकारों और सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओं की फोन टैपिंग क्या मोदी सरकार करवा रही थी? अगर हाँ तो किसलिए? वरिष्ठ पत्रकार प्रोनंजय गुहाठाकुरता के साथ मुकेश कुमार की बातचीत
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta: https://youtu.be/F2qBHJ2JLZM?t=228 phone tapping was normal. But Any phone tapping by law requires Home Secretary's prior permission. Relates his experiecne with the submitting his phone mar 2018 for at least three months.. when I was doing a story Dhirubhai Ambani's earlier assets in his village.. then we wrote about it in Newsclick, ( who incidently faces an ED probe.. )
Who is behind the phone tapping of powerful people of India? । PHONE TAPPING । PEGASUS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EHLqAjVCBk Jul 18, 2021
क्या भारत के मंत्रियों, सुप्रीम कोर्ट के जजों, संघ के नेताओं और पत्रकारों की फोन टैपिंग हुई? अगर हुई तो किसके आदेश पर? मुकेश कुमार के साथ चर्चा में हिस्सा ले रहे हैं- अशोक वानखेड़े, शिवकांत, शीतल पी सिंह, आलोक जोशी और विजय त्रिवेदी
Were the phones of India's ministers, Supreme Court judges, union leaders and journalists being tapped? If so, on whose orders? Taking part in the discussion with Mukesh Kumar - Ashok Wankhede, Shivkant, Sheetal P Singh, Alok Joshi and Vijay Trivedi
Modi Government Can Listen To Bedroom Conversations, Says Congress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaIBzLsaX4 Jul 19, 2021
Randeep Surjewala in Congress press conferene says that the snooped include Hindu newspaper, Indina Express,HT, The wire, Mint, TV 18 inida, India today, EPW, Pioneer, News Click, Tribune, Outlook, DNA, among others.
BAnner/caption card say.. ; Rahul Gandhi targeted in Pegasus "hack:: Pralad Patel, Union Minister in Pegasus List., ex EC, Ashok Lavasa, Prashant Kishor,
No Evidence Linking Government, BJP": Ravi Shankar Prasad On Pegasus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2uCkltXUgA
The former IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad added a fresh angle to the mix this evening. "If more than 45 nations are using Pegasus, like NSO has said, why is only India being targeted?"
"The NSO, which is the manufacturer of Pegasus, has clearly said that its clients are mostly Western nations. So why is India being targetted in this matter? What is the story behind this? What is the twist in the tale?" he added.
Denying any role of government yet again, Mr Prasad said, "There not a shred of evidence in the entire Pegasus story that there is any linkage of the government or the BJP".
The question of government involvement had come up following the categorical statement from NSO since beginning -- that they supply their software only to "vetted governments" and their agencies.
In 2019, when WhatsApp had alleged that many of its user's accounts had been compromised by the use of Pegasus, Mr Prasad had termed the allegations of government involvement an "attempt to malign" its image.
WhatsApp confirms: Israeli spyware was used to snoop on Indian journalists, activists Seema Chishti. Indian Express | New Delhi | https://indianexpress.com/article/india/whatsapp-confirms-israeli-spyware-used-snoop-on-indian-journalists-activists-pegasus-facebook-6095296/ Updated: November 1, 2019
It is learnt that at least two dozen academics, lawyers, Dalit activists and journalists in India were contacted and alerted by WhatsApp that their phones had been under state-of-the-art surveillance for a two-week period until May 2019. ..While WhatsApp declined to reveal the identities and “exact number” of those targeted for surveillance in India, its spokesperson told The Indian Express that WhatsApp was aware of those targeted and had contacted each one of them.
In the lawsuit against the NSO Group and Q Cyber Technologies, WhatsApp alleged that the companies violated US and California laws as well as WhatsApp’s terms of service which prohibit this type of abuse. It claimed that smartphones were penetrated through missed calls alone.
“We believe this attack targeted at least 100 members of civil society which is an unmistakable pattern of abuse. This number may grow higher as more victims come forward,” it said.
The NSO Group, in a statement, said: “In the strongest possible terms, we dispute today’s allegations and will vigorously fight them. Our technology is not designed or licensed for use against human rights activists and journalists.” After doubts about this technology were first raised in May, the NSO Group said it put in place a ‘Human Rights Policy’ on September 19 which “further embeds human rights protections throughout our business and governance systems”.
The NSO Group, in a statement, said: “In the strongest possible terms, we dispute today’s allegations and will vigorously fight them. Our technology is not designed or licensed for use against human rights activists and journalists.” After doubts about this technology were first raised in May, the NSO Group said it put in place a ‘Human Rights Policy’ on September 19 which “further embeds human rights protections throughout our business and governance systems”.