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John Scott-Railton Profile picture
@jsrailton
Jan 28, 2021 • 9 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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New #OathKeepers indictment is surfacing interesting puzzle pieces, like:

-Coordination between regional Oath Keepers groups
-A Dec. North Carolina training camp & contingent on the 6th.
-Weapons brought up separately

& more

Quick THREAD 1/
Source: justice.gov/usao-dc/press-… ImageImageImage
2/ "...our duty as Americans to fight, kill and die for our rights."

By November 2020 there is talk among the conspirators of the need to get violent..

By Dec. 20 hotel reservations are made by CALDWELL for the 6th... and CROWL has attended a North Carolina training camp. Image
3/ By Dec 30, WATKINS (Ohio) confirms to CALDWELL (Virginia) that her group will come. They discuss staging, logistics..

CALDWELL says a "full bus 40+" people coming from North Carolina.

[Observation: I suspect we will learn a lot more about NC folks in coming weeks] Image
4/ "That way the boys don't have to try to schlep weps on the bus"

-CALDWELL to WATKINS on Dec 30, explaining that an unnamed [PERSON THREE] will drive up a truck with weapons separately from one of the bussed-in contingents.

"Leadership only" conference call is named "DC op" ImageImage
5/ Chats describe how CROWL & WATKINS (and others) will "link up" with the "North Carolina crew" On the 4th they depart Ohio, headed for DC.

On the morning of January 6th, they kit up for battle and head to the #Capitol. ImageImage
6/ Here they are: CROWL, WATKINS & others in a disciplined, geared-up line... moving up the #Capitol steps on the East side.

Per the indictment, they forced their way past police and into the building.

Footage: @rstevensbrody
7/ Meanwhile, over on the West side of the #Capitol, CALDWELL & unnamed others are in the mob fighting through police lines, up the stairs, and eventually breaching the doors.

By 3:05pm he reports making it inside. Image
8/ After the storming of the #Capitol they start trying to hide their tracks, deleting messages, etc.

WATKINS & CROWL return to Ohio. But after they are identified on the 14th (see tweet👇👇) they head to Virginia to stay w/ CALDWELL.

Image
Open questions:

-What role did Oath Keepers leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes "[PERSON ONE]" play? He was in crowd (pic).

-Reporting has focused on OH & VA Oath Keepers at #Capitol, but Important to know about others, esp. NC.

Pic: pbs.org/wgbh/frontline… Image

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More from @jsrailton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Mar 11
UPDATE: @Plaid for AI happened faster than I warned.

We are in a historic transformation around AI agents.

Disruption will extend to the core of your privacy.

Companies know the appeal of agentic AI & are working to lock consumers into ecosystems designed to maximize data extraction.

It's not too late, but it might be soon.

But the thing about transformative moments is that new possibilities often open simultaneously with the risks.

We need to build, experiment with & use good private + open AI tools, local models that respect privacy by default & confidential inference that prevents companies from mining the data they process.

Do that & give us a fighting chance for future that respects our freedom, and our boundaries.

Sleep on the challenge of building openly & we relinquish the playing field to the same companies and dynamics that already degrade our autonomy...only faster & everywhere.Image
2/ What's the deal with @Plaid?

I find people are dimly aware about something involving connecting banking accounts.

I bet you don't know that Plaid helps themselves to mountains of your financial data in exchange for the convenience.Image
3/ Basically, by providing 'rails' @Plaid has managed to get an absolutely gods-eye-view on peoples financial behavior.

In real time.

That data is available to other companies. And governments.

You are the product.Image
Read 5 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Mar 10
BREAKING: powerful iPhone hacking tools used by Chinese criminals originated from US defense giant L3 Harris.

The $LHX zero-click exploits went to Russian spies too.

Unbelievable harm to our collective security.

Scoop by @lorenzofb, here's why this matters 1/Image
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2/ Last week, the team @google blew open a massive hacking operation: #Coruna.

A Chinese hacking operation somehow had a huge catalogue of very, very good iPhone exploits stealing banking information from people all over the web.

Hard to overstate how bizarre this was...Image
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3/ Thing is, the powerful #Coruna exploits didn't originate with Chinese cybercriminals.

Some months before they were used by #Russian government hackers.

But before that? Well, as @Google Threat Intel described it, it was being used by a customer of a surveillance company...

Report cloud.google.com/blog/topics/th…Image
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Read 16 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Feb 27
YIKES: @perplexity_ai is flexing that they have OS-level access to 100M+ Samsung S26s.

Zero mention of:

Privacy
Security
Encryption

What will Perplexity do with this growing stash of personal data from deep inside Samsung phones? What jurisdictions will it live in? Who will it get shared with?

Here's the thing: Android's current security & privacy model involves sandboxing 3rd party apps from each other. TikTok can't read your private notes, for example.

Sandboxing is good & it narrows the attack surface against your private stuff.

But this #Perplexity integration breaks that baseline sandbox model, making a kernel-adjacent data bridge for Perplexity into your personal stuff.

Will users understand the structural shift in privacy?

Meanwhile, the risk of prompt injection & other attacks against an agentic AI that has OS-level access to personal stuff is also real.

Lots of speed, no signs of caution.Image
2/ Multiple agents & flows each with their own distinct security & privacy issues and levels of OS-level access to private stuff.

I doubt users have the cognitive spare room to parse privacy & security downsides each time they want to ask a question.
3/ Unprecedented access means @perplexity_ai is taking unprecedented security measures.

And has thought hard about user consent & protecting their privacy...right?

Right? Image
Read 4 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Feb 24
BREAKING: US just sanctioned a network of exploit brokers trafficking in stolen US hacking tools

First-ever use of #PIPA (Protecting American Intellectual Property Act) by @USTreasury.

Here's the wild backstory of how @opzero_en got US-taxpayer funded exploits. 1/ Image
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2/ Peter Williams was an exec at Trenchant, subsidiary of @L3HarrisTech / $LHX.

Trenchant makes hacking tools for 🇺🇸US & allies.

Williams sold them to @opzero_en & bought nice things.

Result? Powerful 🇺🇸 capabilities got into hostile hands.
Image
@L3HarrisTech @opzero_en 3/ Operation Zero is a zero-day broker. They pay bounties for exploits in tech (much of it 🇺🇸US-made).

Then resell to non-NATO governments & intel agencies.

They aren't secretive. They even advertise here on X. Image
Image
Read 11 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Feb 18
BREAKING: It started with WhatsApp messages.

They said they were students & tried to build rapport with Angolan journalist Teixeira Cândido.

Then the links began arriving.

Someone was trying to hack him with #Predator spyware.

New bombshell investigation by @AmnestyTech 1/Image
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2/ Heard of Pegasus? #Predator is a somewhat sloppier cousin.

They don't always have the hottest zero-click exploits, but they market to the same dictators.

And once you are infected, the harm is just as real: your digital life is turned inside-out.Image
3/ Predator spyware, which is distributed by #Intellexa, has a massive abuse problem.

And this latest excellent investigation by @AmnestyTech just drives home how much chaos the company has caused...
Read 11 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Feb 17
NEW: When Kenyan cops arrested activist & presidential candidate @bonifacemwangi they took his devices.

When he got his personal phone back, the password was gone.

We @citizenlab found they'd abused @cellebrite to break into it.

Here's why this abuse matters 1/Image
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2/ Your phone holds the keys to your life, and governments shouldn’t be able to help themselves to the contents just because they don’t like what you are saying.

But everywhere you look, cops are getting phone cracking technology from companies like @cellebrite.

Many abuse it.Image
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3/ @Cellebrite's abuse potential is clear.

Now, Cellebrite says that they have a human rights committee & do due diligence...

Because even Cellebrite knows that if you sell phone cracking tech to security services with bad oversight, you have a problem.

So why are there so many sales to questionable security services?Image
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Read 6 tweets

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