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

Dec 4
WHOA: Predator spyware discovered in πŸ‡΅πŸ‡°#Pakistan.

+ a leak shows zero-click infections via... ads.

Yikes.

Here are some more damming revelations as Intellexa, the shady, sanctioned spyware supplier gets exposed by @AmnestyTech & partners.. /1Image
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2/ First, a mercenary spyware myth has just been busted.

Because the leak shows an Intellexa employee directly accessing a customer deployment.

Prior to the #PredatorFiles leak, spyware companies basically always claimed they couldn't access customer deployments & didn't know what was going on there.

They used this to avoid responsibility & claim ignorance when faced with abuses.Image
3/ And it gets crazier. The leak shows Intellexa casually accessing a core backbone of Predator deployment of a government customer.

Seemingly without the gov's knowledge.

Suggests that Intellexa can look over their shoulder & watch their sensitive targeting.

Huge counterintelligence nightmare for customers.

And a giant liability red-flag for intellexa.Image
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Read 11 tweets
Nov 13
NEW: πŸ‡¨πŸ‡³Chinese hackers ran massive campaign by tricking Claude's agentic AI.

Vibe hacking ran 80-90% of the operation without humans.

Massive scale (1000s of reqs/sec).

Agents ran complex multi-step tasks, shepherded by a human.

Long predicted. Welcome to the new world.

Fascinating report by @AnthropicAI 1/Image
2/ The old cybersecurity pitch: unpatched systems are the threat.

The next generation concern might be unpatched cognition.

The attacker jailbroke the cognitive layer of @anthropic's Claude code, successfully convincing the system of false intent (that it was a security exercise)Image
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3/ One of the key points in @AnthropicAI's report is just how limited the human time required was to run such a large automated campaign.

Obviously powerful stuff, highlighting the impact of orchestration.

And concerning for the #cybersecurity world for all sorts of reasons, ranging from attack scale, adaptability & cost reductions...

But I keep thinking of the next step in this..

READ: assets.anthropic.com/m/ec212e6566a0…Image
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Read 6 tweets
Nov 11
Putin has 3 identical offices his residences to hide where he is when he goes on TV.

But a cascade of tiny details gives the whole thing away.

Light switches, door handles, wood patterns & wall seams.

Truly epic OSINT.

h/t @alburovImage
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2. First, Putin had one office in his Novo-Ogarevo residence.

Then, paranoia kicked in. After he invaded Crimea it intensified.

Time for new digs, and elaborate deceptions to make him feel safe & project the image to Russians that he's an engaged Moscow-based leader. Image
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3/ For something that cost so much, the number of substantial differences & subtle tells is overwhelming.

Undoing the entirety of the enterprise of deception.

You have to assume that Intelligence services have known these tells for a long time.
svoboda.org/a/systema-kabi…Image
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Read 7 tweets
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
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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
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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
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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

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