John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 7, 2022 6 tweets 5 min read Read on X
NEW: clear US policy towards mercenary spyware industry in the new #NDAA.

And it's *bad news* for shady spyware companies.

Quick thread of highlights from Sec 6318 of this robust bit of legislation 1/
2/ First, there's a yearly reporting requirement from the intelligence community.

Including deep dive into the finances, corporate structures of mercenary spyware companies.

And their customers.

And who is actually being hacked + whether that includes targeting of US. #NDAA
3/ Next, the DNI gets the authority to prohibit purchase & use by USG of mercenary spyware.

AND can block US Intelligence from doing biz with companies that have acquired mercenary spyware.

There is a waiver authority.
4/. DNI is also directed to beef up guidance & reporting on protecting devices from foreign commercial #spyware.

+ requirement that appropriate Congressional committees get briefed if US personnel get targeted.

+ consultation with private sector to identify risks.

#NDAA
5/ #NDAA also directs DNI to report to Congress on potential for US to lead allies & Five Eyes partners to a harmonized effort to mitigate counterintelligence risks of foreign commercial #spyware.

Nightmare fuel for notorious mercenary spyware companies.
6/ Compared to original #NDAA, I note sanctions language is out, but this remains a promising first step towards tackling foreign commercial #spyware.

Let harmonization with allies begin...

NDAA amendments (I've been tweeting Sec. 6318) rules.house.gov/sites/democrat…

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More from @jsrailton

Jul 10
NEW: Mexico's former president under investigation for taking bribes from spyware industry.

Contracts included #Pegasus deal.

Story from @TheRecord_Media's Suzanne Smalley 1/Image
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2/ Mexico's former president is denying everything...

But folks may recall that Pegasus was massively and systematically abused in Mexico.

Against journalists, spouses of cartel victims, lawyers, families of cartel-disappeared people, anti-corruption groups etc. etc.

There were so many cases that we eventually had EIGHT investigative reports...
therecord.media/former-mexican…Image
3/ What still gives me chills is how many cases surfaced of people killed by cartels... or their family members... getting targeted with Pegasus spyware.

The #PegasusProject found even more potential cases in Mexico. Image
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Read 5 tweets
Jun 18
🚨NEW REPORT: exposing a new hacking tactic.

🇷🇺Russian state-backed hackers used an App-Specific Password attack against prominent Russia expert @KeirGiles & others.

It's like they know what we all expect from them...and then did the opposite 1/

By us @citizenlab & @google's GTIGImage
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2/ Let's begin: @KeirGiles gets a message purporting to be from @StateDept asking for a consultation.

The attackers send the message from a @gmail, but CC'd a bunch of email addresses @ state.gov.

Strong credibility signal to have a bunch of gov ppl on the CC line right?

Well, what the attackers were counting on is that the State Dept mailserver just accepts all email addresses without emitting a bounce.

So they seem to have just created some fake State Dept staff names and addresses.Image
3/ The attackers wait for the 2nd interaction to introduce the pivotal deception: getting @KeirGiles to 'connect to a secure platform.'

In the next days they patiently walk him through what they want him to do, even sending a very official looking (but fake) State Dept. documentImage
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Read 10 tweets
Jun 12
🚨NEW INVESTIGATION: We just forensically unmasked #Paragon's Apple spyware.

Zero-click targets: Journalists. In 🇪🇺Europe.

Like 🇮🇹Italian reporter @ciropellegrino.

Reopen's #Italy's spyware scandal.

Follows our @citizenlab investigation of their Android spyware. 1/ Image
2/ Back in April, @Apple sent out a threat notification to a select group of users. Some got in touch with us @citizenlab to get analyzed.

They'd been targeted with a sophisticated zero-click attack (think: no click, no attachment to open, no mistake needed...).Image
3/ While my brilliant colleague @billmarczak was working on the phone of a prominent European journalist, he made a smoking gun discovery:

Requests to server matching our P1 fingerprint for #Paragon's graphite.

Paragon's 'undetectable' Apple spyware had just been found...Image
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Read 13 tweets
Jun 9
NEW: #Italy's spyware scandal just deepened.

Just days ago, #Italy claimed to not know who targeted Journalist @fcancellato with #Paragon spyware.

But now the spyware company is dropping heavy hints that this wasn't the full story👇
2/ Last week the #Italian government published a report acknowledging that they were responsible for certain #paragon spyware cases.

But left the politically trickiest case unanswered...
3/ Paragon frames itself as the anti-NSO... a "clean" spyware company.

But it didn't take long for them to get mired in an mess scandal in #Italy.

Now it looks like they are trying to find a way to fully wash their hands of the affair...

Read 7 tweets
Jun 6
NEW: Italy admits hacking activists with #Paragon spyware.

Blow to the reputation of a mercenary spyware company that marketed itself as an ethically clean anti-NSO.

But the official investigation doesn't answer a big mystery that's bad for #Italy & Paragon 1/..

By @omerbenjImage
2/ While Italy confirms the activist cases, they deny doing the politically explosive one:

Journalist & @fanpage editor Francesco Cancellato, whose reporting has tangled with the Prime Minister.

So who pointed Paragon against @fcancellato?

None of the answers are good... Image
3/ If we take the Italian government's claims to not know who targeted Italian journalist @fcancellato at face value...

Then it is a very bad look for #Paragon to have this case unexplained.

Who pointed their Graphite spyware at this European journalist?Image
Read 6 tweets
May 20
NEW: Pegasus spyware maker NSO Group just got publicly rebuffed by the US.

They came to DC to get off the US blacklist.

It did not work out. Thanks to their own actions.

You know about the human rights issues, but let me tell you why NSO is no friend to the United States. 1/ Image
2/ First, it's important to know that NSO was shady in how they set up the meeting.

For close observers, this is no surprise.

NSO constantly thinks that they can play the United States.

Part of what got them in trouble in the first place, but let's go deeper.Image
3/ First, NSO has consistently helped foreign governments target the US government.

And hack regular US citizens.

The first cases date back a decade to when the president of Panama used it to monitor the US embassy (and his mistress).

A decade later it was still happening...Image
Read 15 tweets

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