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John Scott-Railton Profile picture
@jsrailton
May 26, 2023 • 6 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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UPDATE: The killer whales just struck again.

reuters.com/world/europe/k… Image
#TeamOrca sounds pretty organized in how they target sailboats.

archive.iwc.int/pages/view.php… Image
Sounds like sailors increasingly desperate efforts to scare off #TeamOrca might actually be encouraging them further.

Researchers suggest *boats should play dead*

I can't get enough of this Image
I think the killer whales at @SeaWorld managed to get a message out to #TeamOrca. ImageImage
The view of a French marine biologist who had to be rescued after one of the interactions matches the study I found.

#TeamOrca may just be playing.

They could sink boats much faster if they wanted.

h/t @yuroon
pbo.co.uk/cruising/orcas… Image
Being on #TeamOrca is the only morally defensible position.

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More from @jsrailton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 30, 2025
NEW: @USTreasury just de-sanctioned 3 foreign mercenary spyware execs.

Puzzling.

Just 2 years ago Predator spyware was pointed at🇺🇸American congresspeople @RepMcCaul & @SenJohnHoeven.

And recent research suggests Predator is still active around the globe. 1/Image
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2/ NSO Group has bigger name recognition, but Intellexa's reputation for reckless proliferation of cyber capabilities is unmatched.

The pile of Predator abuses is enormous.

And they got repeatedly caught used against Americans by foreign govs.

3/ Ultimately Intellexa flew very close to the sun.

Their CEO Tal Dilian regularly boasted of their activities.

And then? Just last year they got sanctioned for their pattern of conduct.

Comprehensively.

Including key reported enablers of their activities like Sarah Hamou... Image
Read 8 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 4, 2025
WHOA: Predator spyware discovered in 🇵🇰#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
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Nov 13, 2025
NEW: 🇨🇳Chinese 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
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Nov 11, 2025
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
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Oct 23, 2025
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
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Oct 22, 2025
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

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