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!

β€’ β€’ β€’

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

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 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
Oct 10
NEW: Pegasus spyware coming to America?

An ex-Adam Sandler producer is again trying acquire the notorious NSO Group.

Simonds fronted this before in 2023 & failed. But the backers of this idea haven't given up.

Where is the money coming from?

The unanswered questions should worry every American 1/Image
Image
Image
Image
2/ Back in 2023 it wasn't clear to me where the money backing Robert Simonds big spyware plans came from.

It still isn't.

So, whose money will actually be buying Pegasus?

And what is the end goal?

Report by @globesnews' @assafgi
globes.co.il/news/article.a…Image
Image
@globesnews @assafgi 3/ Robert Simonds on whyπŸ‡¨πŸ‡³#China's @TencentGlobal is a great owner of his @STXfilms.

He has zero experience with the spyware industry, but is once more showing a sudden focus on acquiring the company that makes #Pegasus.

Read 6 tweets
Sep 2
NEW: foreign mercenary spyware is coming to the US.

ICE just quietly unsuspended contract with spyware maker #Paragon.

Remember them?

Caught earlier this year being used to hack journalists.

Bad move for Americans rights, national security & counterintelligence 1/Image
2/ #Paragon was co-founded in Israel in 2019 by ex head of Israel's NSA equivalent (Unit 8200) w/ major backing from former Israeli PM Ehud Barak.

Pitched themselves as stealthy & abuse-proof alternative to NSO Group's Pegasus.

& have been trying to get into the US market for years.Image
Image
Image
Image
3/For a long time all we knew about Paragon was their performance as a 'virtuous' spyware company with values.

All that came to a crashing halt in 2025 when they got very caught, helping customers hack targets across @WhatsApp.

WhatsApp did the right thing & notified users.

By @razhael
Image
Image
Image
Read 18 tweets
Aug 29
NEW: @WhatsApp caught & fixed a sophisticated zero click attack...

Now they've published an advisory about it.

Say attackers combined the exploit with an @Apple vulnerability to hack a specific group of targets (i.e. this wasn't pointed at everybody)

Quick thoughts 1/Image
Wait, you say, haven't I heard of @WhatsApp zero-click exploits before?

You have.

A big user base makes a platform big target for exploit development.

Think about it from the attacker's perspective: an exploit against a popular messenger gives you potential access to a lot of devices.

You probably want maximum mileage from that painstakingly developed, weaponized, and tested exploit code you created/ purchased (or got bundled into your Pegasus subscription).
3/ The regular tempo of large platforms catching sophisticated exploits is a good sign.

They're paying attention & devoting resources to this growing category of highly targeted, sophisticated attacks.

But it's also a reminder of the magnitude of the threat out there...

whatsapp.com/security/advis…
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!

:(