John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Mar 30, 2023 β€’ 9 tweets β€’ 8 min read β€’ Read on X
NEW: 11 countries ink joint statement on countering commercial #spyware proliferation & abuse.

Cite "fundamental" national security & foreign policy interest 1/

πŸ‡¦πŸ‡Ί#Australia πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦#Canada πŸ‡¨πŸ‡·#CostaRica πŸ‡©πŸ‡°#Denmark πŸ‡«πŸ‡·#France πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ#NewZealand πŸ‡³πŸ‡΄#Norway πŸ‡ΈπŸ‡ͺ#Sweden πŸ‡¨πŸ‡­#Switzerland πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§#UK πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ#US We, the governments of Aust...The misuse of these tools p...To advance these interests,...engaging additional partner...
2/ I'd say the joint statement on commercial #spyware is unprecedented.

A few years ago spyware like #Pegasus was was treated as a human rights issue.

But the dizzying speed of proliferation made big problems for governments, forcing them to prepare positions & action.
3/ The statement's commitment guardrails for accountable domestic #spyware use is important.

But devil will be in the implementations. Civil society will be watching.

(Note: issue wasn't covered in White House Spyware Executive Order on Monday, so nice to see USA commit here) Image
4/ Export control commitments on #Spyware. Again, important.

Worth noting, several signatories have a complex history on surveillance tech export...

So transparency about license granting & denials will be essential for accountability & to ensure commitment has teeth. Image
5/ Tracking & information sharing. Maybe public shaming? Norms? Again, important.

The mercenary #spyware industry has hidden from researchers & victims.

Let's hope it's harder for them to hide from governments. Image
6/ Commercial #spyware proliferation is now a global problem. Whether it's sold to autocrats, or to more 'democratic' governments in the EU... that wind up abusing it

But a key driver? Investment firms in the US & elsewhere. Good to see the joint statement speak to this. Image
7/ Lots of movement on #spyware this week

- The Executive Order
- Statements by @POTUS & Deputy AG Lisa Monaco
- this Joint Statement
- & more, just look at this fact sheet

Positive developments that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, but...
whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
8/ Spyware proliferation went too far & did too much harm.

Result? Governments are waking up & have started taking action.

But this is also a reminder of all the progress still needed on many fronts, like domestic accountability, oversight & transparency from every signatory.
9/ It remains puzzling to me as I read the joint statement on #Spyware that some EU countries are notably missing (where is #Germany?).

It also puts into stark relief that the EU Parliament's efforts on Spyware have a long way to go.

I hope there is some pressure to catch up!

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More from @jsrailton

Mar 19
🚨NEW REPORT: first forensic confirmation of #Paragon mercenary spyware infections in #Italy...

Known targets: Activists & journalists.

We also found deployments around the world. Including ...Canada?

And a lot more... Thread on our @citizenlab investigation 1/Image
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2/ So #Paragon makes zero-click spyware marketed as better than NSO's Pegasus...

Harder to find...

...And more ethical too!

This caught our attention @citizenlab & we were skeptical.

By @iblametom forbes.com/sites/thomasbr…Image
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3/ We got a tip about a single bit of #Paragon infrastructure & my brilliant colleague @billmarczak developed a technique to fingerprint some of the mercenary spyware infrastructure (both victim-facing & customer side) globally.

So much for invisibility.

What we found startled us.

citizenlab.ca/2025/03/a-firs…Image
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Read 18 tweets
Feb 6
BREAKING: #Paragon reportedly terminates spyware contract with #Italy.

Right on heels of reported targeting of journalist & activists in Italy.

BIG DEAL: puts Italian government in the hot seat, since they denied knowing about it only hours ago.πŸ‘‡
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2/ Read this slowly.

The implication is clear: the Italian government was a #Paragon customer & had their contract terminated...

Even as @GiorgiaMeloni's office was issuing denials.

Likely to make the scandal worse.

Exceptional reporting from The Guardian
theguardian.com/technology/202…Image
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3/ Big picture:

#Paragon's carefully constructed image of being a clean mercenary spyware company that wasn't susceptible to abuses has been replaced by a more familiar tale of...

Abuses...

And #Italy is now saddled with an unfolding crisis around spyware abuse.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 1
NEW: @WhatsApp says Israeli mercenary spyware company #Paragon targeted scores of users around world.

The infection happened with no interaction. No link to click or attachment to open.

This is called a "zero-click" attack.

WA says targets included journalists & members of civil society.

They dismantled the attack vector & notified users.

Good.

We at @citizenlab shared some info instrumental to their investigation of the vector.

This is a BIG deal. Here's why 1/Image
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2/ For a few years the only source of information about #Paragon... has been Paragon.

They marketed themselves as the anti-NSO.

(NSO makes the notorious #Pegasus spyware)

It's easier to frame yourself as virtuous in the spyware game if nobody can look over your shoulder.

By @iblametom
forbes.com/sites/thomasbr…

By @RonanFarrow
newyorker.com/magazine/2022/…Image
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3/ Late last year, partly on the strength of their promised virtue #Paragon seemed closer than ever to landing the industrys juiciest of prices.

Market access into the USA.

This is the goal of a lot of spyware companies & their investors...

At the time, there simply were no pesky reports on Paragon that showed anything might be other than rosy.

Story @criticalvas
wired.com/story/ice-para…Image
Read 12 tweets
Jan 23
NEW: US seeks extradition of Israeli private spy over sprawling hacking against πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈAmerican nonprofits.

Amit Forlit's alleged customer? US lobbying firm @DCIGroup... representing @exxonmobil

Extradition filings in UK give fresh peek into this wild case 1/Image
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2/ The case was triggered back in 2018, when US-based nonprofits targeted by hackers requested that @citizenlab notify the authorities.

In 2020, we went public with the investigation, alongside @jc_stubbs @razhael & @Bing_Chris πŸ‘‡

3/ Fast forward to today's efforts to extradite Amit Forlit, who was arrested at Heathrow last year.

He's actually the second Israeli private investigator charged in this massive hacking scheme targeting Americans.

The first, Aviram Azari, was arrested in 2019, convicted & is serving out his sentence.

justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/i…Image
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Read 7 tweets
Dec 23, 2024
The volume of scam phone calls targeting elderly people in the US is insane.

Anyone that has visited an aging person knows what I'm talking about.

Ring after ring.

Several calls a day isn't out of the ordinary each of them a risk of wiping out their savings.

It's an untenable situation and will only get worse without focused government action.
Phone predators constantly target your parents.

Foreign scam call centers are running on an industrial scale.

Efforts phone companies are making are obviously not up to the task.

Just ask any retired person you know when they last got a scam call.
The constant phone scamming of elderly Americans is like an opportunistic infection.

It is a symptom showing that the US phone system's defenses against foreign abuses are diminished.

With increasingly clever AI/ deepfake voices & automation, the problem is set to get worse.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 23, 2024
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

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