John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 22, 2022 9 tweets 7 min read Read on X
BREAKING: #TikTok admits to using app data to spy on journalists including @CristinaCriddle & people connected to them.

Tracked their movements.

By @MsHannahMurphy
ft.com/content/e873b9…
Looks like #TikTok is trying the "few bad apples" approach with their journalist spying internal investigation.
#TikTok spying on journalists proves that #LocationPrivacy matters.

You have no idea who is getting & leveraging logs of your movements.

Right now, the whole issue is a wild west in most jurisdictions.

Including the US.
The #TikTok spying situation shows: an app doesn't need to have any special design features to be turned into an espionage tool.

So many apps soak up much more than they should.

All it takes is the desire and access to the backend... and that data is going to be abused.
Another way to parse the few-bad-apples-defense?

A bad thing was kept to a small group within #TikTok in an effort to keep it a secret...
You probably have apps where you do *work* things.

But you might also have apps that feel more personal.

And that contain your 'personal' social graph.

Like #TikTok.

But those fun apps can bite.

And be leveraged to track your work activities. And those of your friends.
UPDATE: @Forbes reports that #TikTok ALSO tracked multiple Forbes journalists.

This is very bad.

But it gets worse...

By @ebakerwhite forbes.com/sites/emilybak…
As @ebakerwhite reports: in October, TikTok explicitly said they didn't spy on journalists.

That's exactly what they had done.
The @Forbes journalists we now know were covertly spied on by #TikTok: @ebakerwhite @SchwabKatharine & @richardjnieva.

It makes you wonder: just what else has TikTok done?

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with John Scott-Railton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jsrailton

Oct 23
NEW: Ex exec at premier private cyber weapons contractor to US accused of selling eight trade secrets to buyer in Russia.

I think this = exploits.

Very bad: at minimum would give adversaries a blueprint for detecting the tip of the spear of US/Allied cyber ops..

Wild story 1/Image
Image
2/ A watch collection studded with fake rolexes...

...is allegedly part of Peter "doogie" Williams haul from selling the hacking labs' secrets.

documentcloud.org/documents/2619…Image
3/ While doogie's watch collection is a joke, the questions couldn't be more serious:

Were cyberweapons paid for by American taxpayers also turned against us?

Were service members, officials, or civilians at physical risk? When was this breach first suspected? Who knew what? When?Image
Read 9 tweets
Oct 22
WARNING: seeing a lot of phishing against @Signal users.

Did you get a message like this?

Don't engage! It's an attempt to steal your account.

Your account is safe & chats are private, but you should use Signal's option to Report Spam & Block. 1/Image
2/ You can make the attackers life harder by clicking Report.

Background: Like any popular secure messaging app, Signal users sometimes get targeted by spam & phishing attempts.

Often, attackers guess large numbers of usernames / phone numbers & send out message requests...Image
3/ Take a minute to remind yourself how message requests & blocking work on @Signal.

FAQ: support.signal.org/hc/en-us/artic…Image
Image
Read 4 tweets
Oct 21
A "damaging" leak of tools from a five eyes exploit developer?

Concerning. We need to know what's under this rug.

Big picture: "trusted, vetted" private sector players offensive cyber are not immune to losing control of tooling... with national security consequences 1/
2/ If true, a tooling leak at boutique firm Trenchant wouldn't be the first time that exploits from commercial offensive vendors wind up... in the wrong place.

Many questions.

In the meantime. Remember when Russian APT29..was caught with exploits first used by NSO & Intellexa? Image
Image
3/ There will always be a push for states to turn towards the private sector to meet offensive needs.

It's appealing. For some, it's very lucrative.

But in practice it brings unavoidable counterintelligence & national security downside risk that shouldn't be downplayed.
Read 11 tweets
Oct 17
NOW: US court permanently bans Pegasus spyware maker from hacking WhatsApp.

NSO Group can't help their customers hack @WhatsApp, etc ether. Must delete exploits...

Bad news for NSO. Huge competitive disadvantage for the notorious company.

Big additional win for WhatsApp 1 /Image
Image
Image
Image
2/ Although the massive punitive damages jury award against NSO Group ($167m) got reduced by the court, as is expected in cases where it is so large (to 9x compensatory damages)...

This is likely cold comfort to NSO since I think the injunction is going to have a huge impact on the value of NSO's spyware product.

Comes as NSO Group has been making noises about getting acquired by a US investor & some unnamed backers...Image
Image
3/ NSO also emerges from the @WhatsApp v NSO case with just an absolute TON of their business splashed all over the court records..

E.g. check out the filings from Sept 15th 2025: courtlistener.com/docket/1639534…
Read 5 tweets
Oct 10
WOW: @Apple donating a thousand new #iPhone17 s to civil society at-risk from mercenary spyware.

Good. This will help get Apple's most secure devices to where they need to be..

Truth is: those at the greatest risk from spyware are often least able to afford more secure phones 1/Image
2/ Memory Integrity Enforcement = big deal Radically hardens iPhones from common attack vectors.

So it was a bittersweet to see this announcement and think "yeah it's going to be a long time before highest risk ppl can get them."..
3/ You're reading this on a device that is probably more secure thanks to the vigilance of an activist somewhere...

Seems @Apple recognizes this & also knows how much of a game changer getting their most secure devices into the hands of civil society could be.

security.apple.com/blog/apple-sec…
Read 4 tweets
Oct 10
NEW: fresh trouble for mercenary spyware companies like NSO Group.

@Apple launching substantial bounties on the zero-click exploits that feed the supply chain behind products like Pegasus & Paragon's Graphite.

With bonuses, exploit developers can hit $5 million payouts. 1/Image
Image
2/ Apple is introducing Target Flags which speeds the process of getting exploits found & submitters rewarded.

This faster tempo is also a strike against the mercenary spyware ecosystem.

And the expanded categories also hit more widely against commercial surveillance vendors. Image
3/ If I contemplating investing in spyware companies I'd want to carefully evaluate whether their exploit pipeline can match what @apple just threw down.

security.apple.com/blog/apple-sec…
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(