Security Risks of Government Hacking
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Submission of the Citizen Lab (Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto) to the United Nations
Submission of the Citizen Lab (Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto) to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression on the surveillance industry and human rights February 15, 2019 For all inquiries related to this submission, please contact: Dr. Ronald J. Deibert Director, the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto [email protected] Contributors to this report: Siena Anstis, Senior Legal Advisor, Citizen Lab Dr. Ronald J. Deibert, Professor of Political Science; Director, Citizen Lab Jon Penney, Research Fellow, Citizen Lab; Associate Professor and Director, Law & Technology Institute, Schulich School of Law Acknowledgments: We would also like to thank Miles Kenyon (Communications Specialist, Citizen Lab) and Adam Senft (Operations Manager, Citizen Lab) for their support in reviewing this submission. 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 About the Citizen Lab 5 Citizen Lab Research on the Use of Private Surveillance Technology Against Human Rights Actors 6 1. NSO Group’s Pegasus 6 The case of Ahmed Mansoor in the United Arab Emirates 7 Targeting civil society, journalists, politicians, and others in Mexico 7 Mapping Pegasus infections and the case of Omar Abdulaziz in Canada 8 Additional cases of targeting 8 2. Cyberbit’s PC Surveillance System 9 3. FinFisher and FinSpy 9 4. Hacking Team’s Remote Control System 10 Common Trends among Private Companies in the Surveillance Industry 11 1. Sales to states with poor human rights records 11 2. -
North Korean Cyber Capabilities: in Brief
North Korean Cyber Capabilities: In Brief Emma Chanlett-Avery Specialist in Asian Affairs Liana W. Rosen Specialist in International Crime and Narcotics John W. Rollins Specialist in Terrorism and National Security Catherine A. Theohary Specialist in National Security Policy, Cyber and Information Operations August 3, 2017 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R44912 North Korean Cyber Capabilities: In Brief Overview As North Korea has accelerated its missile and nuclear programs in spite of international sanctions, Congress and the Trump Administration have elevated North Korea to a top U.S. foreign policy priority. Legislation such as the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-122) and international sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council have focused on North Korea’s WMD and ballistic missile programs and human rights abuses. According to some experts, another threat is emerging from North Korea: an ambitious and well-resourced cyber program. North Korea’s cyberattacks have the potential not only to disrupt international commerce, but to direct resources to its clandestine weapons and delivery system programs, potentially enhancing its ability to evade international sanctions. As Congress addresses the multitude of threats emanating from North Korea, it may need to consider responses to the cyber aspect of North Korea’s repertoire. This would likely involve multiple committees, some of which operate in a classified setting. This report will provide a brief summary of what unclassified open-source reporting has revealed about the secretive program, introduce four case studies in which North Korean operators are suspected of having perpetrated malicious operations, and provide an overview of the international finance messaging service that these hackers may be exploiting. -
Annotated Bibliography Digital Transnational Repression
Annotated Bibliography Digital Transnational Repression By Noura Al-Jizawi, Siena Anstis, Sophie Barnett, Sharly Chan, Adam Sen, and Ronald J. Deibert Last Updated: May 2021 Copyright Copyright © 2021 Citizen Lab, “Digital transnational Repression,” by Noura Al-Jizawi, Siena Anstis, Sharly Chan, Adam Sen, and Ronald J. Deibert. Licensed under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 (Attribution-ShareAlike Licence) Electronic version first published in 2020 by the Citizen Lab. Citizen Lab engages in research that investigates the intersection of digital technologies, law, and human rights. Document Version: 2.0 New changes in this annual update include: ● Change of terminology from “transnational digital repression” to “digital transnational repression” to align with the discourse ● New summaries collected between October 2020 - May 2021 and added to the document The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license under which this report is licensed lets you freely copy, distribute, remix, transform, and build on it, as long as you: ● give appropriate credit; ● indicate whether you made changes; and ● use and link to the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. However, any rights in excerpts reproduced in this report remain with their respective authors; and any rights in brand and product names and associated logos remain with their respective owners. Uses of these that are protected by copyright or trademark rights require the rightsholder’s prior written agreement. 2 Acknowledgements The design of this document is by Mari Zhou. About the Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Aairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto, focusing on research, development, and high-level strategic policy and legal engagement at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security. -
Government Hacking What Is It and When Should It Be Used?
Government Hacking What is it and when should it be used? Encryption is a critical component of our day-to-day lives. For much of the world, basic aspects of life rely on encryption to function. Power systems, transport, financial markets, and baby monitors1 are more trustworthy because of encryption. Encryption protects our most vulnerable data from criminals and terrorists, but it can also hide criminal content from governments. Government hacking is one of the approaches national security and law enforcement agencies use to obtain access to otherwise encrypted information (e.g. the FBI hired a hacking company to unlock the iPhone at the center of the San Bernardino case2). It complements their other efforts to obtain exceptional access3 by asking or requiring tech companies to have the technical ability to decrypt users’ content when it is needed for law enforcement purposes. The Internet Society believes strong encryption is vital to the health of the Internet and is deeply concerned about any policy or action that might put that in jeopardy — regardless of its motivation. Government hacking poses a risk of collateral damage to both the Internet and its users, and as such should only ever be considered as a tool of last resort. Government hacking defined We define ‘government hacking’ as government entities (e.g. national security or law enforcement agencies or private actors on their behalf) exploiting vulnerabilities in systems, software, or hardware to gain access to information that is otherwise encrypted, or inaccessible. Dangers of government hacking Exploiting vulnerabilities of any kind, whether for law enforcement purposes, security testing, or any other purpose, should not be taken lightly. -
An Evolving Threat the Deep Web
8 An Evolving Threat The Deep Web Learning Objectives distribute 1. Explain the differences between the deep web and darknets.or 2. Understand how the darknets are accessed. 3. Discuss the hidden wiki and how it is useful to criminals. 4. Understand the anonymity offered by the deep web. 5. Discuss the legal issues associated withpost, use of the deep web and the darknets. The action aimed to stop the sale, distribution and promotion of illegal and harmful items, including weapons and drugs, which were being sold on online ‘dark’ marketplaces. Operation Onymous, coordinated by Europol’s Europeancopy, Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the FBI, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Eurojust, resulted in 17 arrests of vendors andnot administrators running these online marketplaces and more than 410 hidden services being taken down. In addition, bitcoins worth approximately USD 1 million, EUR 180,000 Do in cash, drugs, gold and silver were seized. —Europol, 20141 143 Copyright ©2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc. This work may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without express written permission of the publisher. 144 Cyberspace, Cybersecurity, and Cybercrime THINK ABOUT IT 8.1 Surface Web and Deep Web Google, Facebook, and any website you can What Would You Do? find via traditional search engines (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc.) are all located 1. The deep web offers users an anonym- on the surface web. It is likely that when you ity that the surface web cannot provide. use the Internet for research and/or social What would you do if you knew that purposes you are using the surface web. -
The Middle East Under Malware Attack Dissecting Cyber Weapons
The Middle East under Malware Attack Dissecting Cyber Weapons Sami Zhioua Information and Computer Science Department King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Dhahran, Saudi Arabia [email protected] Abstract—The Middle East is currently the target of an un- have been designed by the same unknown entity 1. The next precedented campaign of cyber attacks carried out by unknown malware of this lineage was Flame [7] which was discovered parties. The energy industry is praticularly targeted. The in May 2012 by Kaspersky Lab while investigating another attacks are carried out by deploying extremely sophisticated malware. The campaign opened by the Stuxnet malware in piece of malware called Wiper [8]. Flame features very 2010 and then continued through Duqu, Flame, Gauss, and unusual characteristics such as large size, large number of Shamoon malware. This paper is a technical survey of the modules, self adapting, etc. As Duqu, Flame’s objective is attacking vectors utilized by the three most famous malware, data collection and espionnage. Gauss [9] is another data namely, Stuxnet, Flame, and Shamoon. We describe their main stealing malware discovered in June 2012 by Kaspersky Lab modules, their sophisticated spreading capabilities, and we discuss what it sets them apart from typical malware. The focusing on banking information. Flame and Gauss exhibit main purpose of the paper is to point out the recent trends striking similarities and several technical evidences indicate infused by this new breed of malware into cyber attacks. that they come from the same “factories” that produced Stuxnet and Duqu [9]. The latest malware-based attack Keywords-Malwares; Information Security; Targeted At- tacks; Stuxnet; Duqu; Flame; Gauss; Shamoon targeting the middle east was the Shamoon attack on Saudi Aramco [10]. -
The Use of Prior Restraints on Publication in the Age of Wikileaks
35 6 June 2018 Patent Volume 35 ▲ Number 6 ▲ JUNE 2018 Ronald L. Johnston, Arnold & Porter, LLP, Editor-in-Chief The Use of Prior Restraints on Publication in the Age of Wikileaks By CJ Griffin and Frank Corrado s James Madison put it, “A popular Government, The rationale for that principle is simple: If the gov- Awithout popular information, or the means of ernment can ban publication of speech, it can control acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, what the public knows about governmental operations perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: and thereby deprive citizens of their ability to make And a people who mean to be their own Governors, intelligent decisions about governmental action. Too must arm themselves with the power which knowl- often, government favors secrecy over disclosure. The edge gives.”1 Free speech is essential to effective self- presumption against prior restraints ensures that officials government. A democracy cannot function if its citi- cannot indulge that propensity. It prevents the govern- zens do not know what their government is doing. ment from enjoining purportedly “secret” or “sensitive” For that reason, the First Amendment significantly information that may really be embarrassing, unsavory, limits the government’s ability to control the flow or indicative of government illegality or abuse. of information to the public. In particular, the First Of course, legitimate reasons exist for government Amendment renders prior restraints on speech pre- secrecy. As the Supreme Court said in Near v. Minne- sumptively unconstitutional.2 Even if the government sota,3 the seminal case on prior restraints, “no one would could punish the speech after the fact, it cannot—absent question but that a government might prevent actual a heavy burden of justification—prohibit the publica- obstruction to its recruiting service or the publica- tion of that speech. -
Online Media and the 2016 US Presidential Election
Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Faris, Robert M., Hal Roberts, Bruce Etling, Nikki Bourassa, Ethan Zuckerman, and Yochai Benkler. 2017. Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Research Paper. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33759251 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA AUGUST 2017 PARTISANSHIP, Robert Faris Hal Roberts PROPAGANDA, & Bruce Etling Nikki Bourassa DISINFORMATION Ethan Zuckerman Yochai Benkler Online Media & the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper is the result of months of effort and has only come to be as a result of the generous input of many people from the Berkman Klein Center and beyond. Jonas Kaiser and Paola Villarreal expanded our thinking around methods and interpretation. Brendan Roach provided excellent research assistance. Rebekah Heacock Jones helped get this research off the ground, and Justin Clark helped bring it home. We are grateful to Gretchen Weber, David Talbot, and Daniel Dennis Jones for their assistance in the production and publication of this study. This paper has also benefited from contributions of many outside the Berkman Klein community. The entire Media Cloud team at the Center for Civic Media at MIT’s Media Lab has been essential to this research. -
Trend Analysis the Israeli Unit 8200 an OSINT-Based Study CSS
CSS CYBER DEFENSE PROJECT Trend Analysis The Israeli Unit 8200 An OSINT-based study Zürich, December 2019 Risk and Resilience Team Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich Trend analysis: The Israeli Unit 8200 – An OSINT-based study Author: Sean Cordey © 2019 Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich Contact: Center for Security Studies Haldeneggsteig 4 ETH Zurich CH-8092 Zurich Switzerland Tel.: +41-44-632 40 25 [email protected] www.css.ethz.ch Analysis prepared by: Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich ETH-CSS project management: Tim Prior, Head of the Risk and Resilience Research Group, Myriam Dunn Cavelty, Deputy Head for Research and Teaching; Andreas Wenger, Director of the CSS Disclaimer: The opinions presented in this study exclusively reflect the authors’ views. Please cite as: Cordey, S. (2019). Trend Analysis: The Israeli Unit 8200 – An OSINT-based study. Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zürich. 1 Trend analysis: The Israeli Unit 8200 – An OSINT-based study . Table of Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Historical Background 5 2.1 Pre-independence intelligence units 5 2.2 Post-independence unit: former capabilities, missions, mandate and techniques 5 2.3 The Yom Kippur War and its consequences 6 3 Operational Background 8 3.1 Unit mandate, activities and capabilities 8 3.2 Attributed and alleged operations 8 3.3 International efforts and cooperation 9 4 Organizational and Cultural Background 10 4.1 Organizational structure 10 Structure and sub-units 10 Infrastructure 11 4.2 Selection and training process 12 Attractiveness and motivation 12 Screening process 12 Selection process 13 Training process 13 Service, reserve and alumni 14 4.3 Internal culture 14 5 Discussion and Analysis 16 5.1 Strengths 16 5.2 Weaknesses 17 6 Conclusion and Recommendations 18 7 Glossary 20 8 Abbreviations 20 9 Bibliography 21 2 Trend analysis: The Israeli Unit 8200 – An OSINT-based study selection tests comprise a psychometric test, rigorous Executive Summary interviews, and an education/skills test. -
Mcafee Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP) Policy March, 2018
POLICY McAfee Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP) Policy March, 2018 McAfee recognizes that legitimate technologies such as commercial, shareware, freeware, or open source products may provide a value or benefit to a user. However, if these technologies also pose a risk to the user or their system, then users should consent to the behaviors exhibited by the software, understand the risks, and have adequate control over the technology. McAfee refers to technologies with these characteristics as “potentially unwanted program(s),” or “PUP(s).” The McAfee® PUP detection policy is based on the process includes assessing the risks to privacy, security, premise that users should understand what is being performance, and stability associated with the following: installed on their systems and be notified when a ■ Distribution: how users obtain the software including technology poses a risk to their system or privacy. advertisements, interstitials, landing-pages, linking, PUP detection and removal is intended to provide and bundling notification to our users when a software program or technology lacks sufficient notification or control over ■ Installation: whether the user can make an informed the software or fails to adequately gain user consent to decision about the software installation or add- the risks posed by the technology. McAfee Labs is the ons and can adequately back out of any undesired McAfee team responsible for researching and analyzing installations technologies for PUP characteristics. ■ Run-Time Behaviors: the behaviors exhibited by the technology including advertisements, deception, and McAfee Labs evaluates technologies to assess any impacts to privacy and security risks exhibited by the technology against the degree of user notification and control over the technology. -
Duqu the Stuxnet Attackers Return
Uncovering Duqu The Stuxnet Attackers Return Nicolas Falliere 4/24/2012 Usenix Leet - San Jose, CA 1 Agenda 1 Revisiting Stuxnet 2 Discovering Duqu 3 Inside Duqu 4 Weird, Wacky, and Unknown 5 Summary 2 Revisiting Stuxnet 3 Key Facts Windows worm discovered in July 2010 Uses 7 different self-propagation methods Uses 4 Microsoft 0-day exploits + 1 known vulnerability Leverages 2 Siemens security issues Contains a Windows rootkit Used 2 stolen digital certificates Modified code on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) First known PLC rootkit 4 Cyber Sabotage 5 Discovering Duqu 6 Boldi Bencsath Announce (CrySyS) emails: discovery and “important publish 25 page malware Duqu” paper on Duqu Boldi emails: Hours later the “DUQU DROPPER 7 C&C is wiped FOUND MSWORD 0DAY INSIDE” Inside Duqu 8 Key Facts Duqu uses the same code as Stuxnet except payload is different Payload isn‟t sabotage, but espionage Highly targeted Used to distribute infostealer components Dropper used a 0-day (Word DOC w/ TTF kernel exploit) Driver uses a stolen digital certificate (C-Media) No self-replication, but can be instructed to copy itself to remote machines Multiple command and control servers that are simply proxies Infections can serve as peers in a peer-to-peer C&C system 9 Countries Infected Six organizations, in 8 countries confirmed infected 10 Architecture Main component A large DLL with 8 or 6 exports and 1 main resource block Resource= Command & Control module Copies itself as %WINDIR%\inf\xxx.pnf Injected into several processes Controlled by a Configuration Data file Lots of similarities with Stuxnet Organization Code Usual lifespan: 30 days Can be extended 11 Installation 12 Signed Drivers Some signed (C-Media certificate) Revoked on October 14 13 Command & Control Module Communication over TCP/80 and TCP/443 Embeds protocol under HTTP, but not HTTPS Includes small blank JPEG in all communications Basic proxy support Complex protocol TCP-like with fragments, sequence and ack. -
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 052 058 SE 012 062 AUTHOR Kohn, Raymond F. Environmental Education, the Last Measure of Man. an Anthology Of
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 052 058 SE 012 062 AUTHOR Kohn, Raymond F. TITLE Environmental Education, The Last Measure of Man. An Anthology of Papers for the Consideration of the 14th and 15th Conference of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. INSTITUTION National Commission for UNESCO (Dept. of State), Washington, D.C. PUB DATE 71 NOTE 199p. EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$6.58 DESCRIPTORS Anthologies, *Ecology, *Environment, EnVironmental Education, Environmental Influences, *Essays, *Human Engineering, Interaction, Pollution IDENTIFIERS Unesco ABSTRACT An anthology of papers for consideration by delegates to the 14th and 15th conferences of the United States National Commission for UNESCO are presented in this book. As a wide-ranging collection of ideas, it is intended to serve as background materials for the conference theme - our responsibility for preserving and defending a human environment that permits the full growth of man, physical, cultural, and social. Thirty-four essays are contributed by prominent authors, educators, historians, ecologists, biologists, anthropologists, architects, editors, and others. Subjects deal with the many facets of ecology and the environment; causes, effects, and interactions with man which have led to the crises of today. They look at what is happening to man's "inside environment" in contrast to the physical or outside environment as it pertains to pollution of the air, water, and land. For the common good of preserving the only means for man's survival, the need for world cooperation and understanding is emphatically expressed. (BL) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- INATING IT.