John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Sep 13, 2021 6 tweets 5 min read Read on X
🚨 UPDATE YOUR APPLE DEVICES NOW🚨

We caught a zero-click, zero day iMessage exploit used by NSO Group's #Pegasus spyware.

Target? Saudi activist.

We reported the #FORCEDENTRY exploit to @Apple, which just pushed an emergency update.

THREAD 1/
citizenlab.ca/2021/09/forced…
2/ Here's the story of the #FORCEDENTRY exploit:

Back in Mach my colleague @billmarczak was examining the phone of a Saudi activist infected w/#Pegasus spyware. Bill did a backup at the time.

A recent a re-analysis yielded something interesting: weird looking ".gif" files.
3/ Thing is, the ".gif" files...were actually Adobe PSD & PDF files...and exploited Apple’s image rendering library.

Result? Silent exploit via iMessage.

Victim sees *nothing,* meanwhile #Pegasus is silently installed & their device becomes a spy in their pocket.
4/ NSO Group says that their spyware is only for targeting criminals & terrorists.

But here we are... again: their exploits got discovered by us because they were used against an activist.

Thesis: discovery is inevitable byproduct of selling spyware to reckless despots.
5/ #FORCEDENTRY exploit bigger picture:

Popular chat apps are the soft underbelly of device security.

They are on every device, & some have a needlessly large attack surface.

Their security needs to be a *top* priority.
6/Less than a week from notification to patching #FORCEDENTRY.

@Apple can move fast. Great stuff. Herculean effort by teams there.

Company is obviously fed up with NSO & the mercenary spyware industry. Like Google, Facebook, and the rest of the legit tech industry.

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More from @jsrailton

Dec 23
VPN advertising is the most common source of security misinformation that I encounter.

By far.

So many people misplace their trust in dubious consumer VPN products.

The industry is a scourge.
VPNs don't do most of the things that podcasters imply they do.

Security:
Coffee shop attacks on unencrypted logins are a thing of a decade ago.

VPNs won't stop even the dumbest spyware & phishing.

Privacy:
Advertisers still know it's you when you turn on a VPN... they use many other identifying signals from your device, like your browser & advertising IDs. Those don't change when you turn on a VPN.
Trust:
A lot of VPN companies are shady.... and the industry is consolidating fast around some questionable players with concerning histories.

When you turn on a VPN you entrust all of your data to those companies.
Read 7 tweets
Dec 21
BREAKING: NSO Group liable for #Pegasus hacking of @WhatsApp users.

Big win for spyware victims.

Big loss for NSO.

Bad time to be a spyware company.

Landmark case. Huge implications. 1/ 🧵Image
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2/ In 2019, 1,400 @WhatsApp users were targeted with #Pegasus.

WhatsApp did the right thing & sued NSO Group.

NSO has spent 5 years trying to claim that they are above the law.

And engaged in all sorts of maneuvering.

With this order, the music stopped and NSO is now without a chair.Image
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3/ Today, the court decided that enough was enough with NSO's gambits & efforts to hide source code.

Judge Hamilton granted @WhatsApp's motion for summary judgement against the #Pegasus spyware maker.

The judge finds NSO's hacking violated the federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (#CFAA), California state anti-fraud law #CDFA, and was a breach of contract.

What happens next? The trial proceeds only on the issue of resolving damages stemming from NSO's hacking.

Order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Read 12 tweets
Dec 18
NEW: US considering ban on @TPLINK routers.

Company has a majority of the US market share for homes & small biz.

Concerns stem from repeated use in cyberattacks from #China & concerns over supply chain security.

Reportedly an office of @CommerceGov has subpoenaed the company. 1/

Story by @heathersomervil @dnvolz & @aviswanathaImage
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2/ @TPLINK has quickly grown market share, even as concerns have grown over vulnerabilities in the routers being used in #China-linked hacking operations.

wsj.com/politics/natio…Image
3/ As Microsoft's @MsftSecIntel reported earlier this year, for example, #TPLINK routers make up the bulk of the CovertNetwork-1658 attack infrastructure.

This operator was conducting so-called password spray attacks, and taking steps to be discrete.

The credentials are then used by multiple #China-based threat actors....

microsoft.com/en-us/security…Image
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Read 4 tweets
Dec 18
Use only end-to-end encrypted communications says @CISAgov.

YES!

End-to-end encryption is critical infrastructure for a safe society.

Plenty of other solid guidance for mobile users at risk here.

Let's look at their #iPhone & #Android-specific recs... 1/Image
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2/ @CISAgov's top recommendation for Apple users is to✅ enable #LockdownMode

It's my top guidance for high-risk #iPhone users..

Because as researchers tracking sophisticated threats we see Lockdown Mode blunt advanced attacks...

Other solid guidance:

✅Protect your DNS
✅Disable fallback to SMS
✅Enroll in iCloud Private Relay
✅Trim App permissions.Image
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3/ @CISAgov's guidance for #Android starts from the unavoidable fact that many Android manufacturers truly don't respect users security or privacy.

So ✅pick a company that won't leave you insecure after 2-3 years.

Other good guidance here includes...
✅ Only use RCS with end-to-end encryption
✅ Using Android Private DNS
✅ Use Enhanced Protection for Safe Browsing
✅ Google Play Protect
✅ Manage permissions.

cisa.gov/sites/default/…Image
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Read 4 tweets
Dec 17
NEW: #China #Russia #Iran & #Israel are spying on 🇺🇸Americans using telecom weaknesses says @DHSgov

Deeply concerning on heels of #SaltTyphoon breaches.

All US carriers vulnerable to some extent.

We know this thanks to Sen @RonWyden's tireless work to expose #SS7 & #Diameter vulnerabilities.

Here's how they work...

Story by @josephfcox 1/Image
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2/ Here's the thing about the global network for routing calls.

Requests are trusted by default. Whatever operator they come from!

Since requests can let you do things like intercept calls, texts & track phones locations...

...a lot of governments & some shady companies have come running.

All they needed was a "Global Title" which is not hard to get in some jurisdictions.

Result? A tidal wave from around the globe of shady requests for the purpose of spying on people.

Including Americans. In the US.

We @citizenlab exposed Circles, one such player...

Story: 404media.co/dhs-says-china…Image
3/ There's an active global market for companies whose product line revolves around abusing the trusting nature of call routing to conduct surveillance.

We @citizenlab ran scans & mapped deployments of this tech by one such player: Circles.

Circles had previously merged with NSO Group, which makes #Pegasus.

citizenlab.ca/2020/12/runnin…Image
Read 5 tweets
Dec 16
NEW: police in #Serbia caught unlocking activists phones with @Cellebrite's mobile forensic tools & planting spyware on them.

Incredibly troubling investigation by @AmnestyTech delves into how the Serbian authorities mix a toxic brew of repression out of homegrown + foreign mercenary spyware like #Pegasus + $CLBT's forensic tools possibly supplied as part of foreign assistance from #Norway. 1/

Read: amnesty.org/en/documents/e…Image
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2/ From Traffic Stop to Spyware Victim...

As costs increase for zero-click spyware, expect to see authorities getting creative...

Rolling their own tech & finding novel ways to plant it on activists' devices with physical access.
3/ A favorite detail: a @Cellebrite exploit got caught & vuln patched.

This is what happens when your tech is abusively used against activists...

Mad impressive technical lift by @google's Project Zero's @__sethJenkins ft @benoitsevens, @tehjh et al.👇
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Read 7 tweets

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