John Scott-Railton Profile picture
May 28, 2023 5 tweets 6 min read Read on X
🇸🇳#Senegal: only peaceful transfers of power since independence!

Rich & rare tradition of #democracy in W. #Africa.

Sadly, past 2 presidents toyed with 3rd terms.

Wade tried in 2012 & triggered violence.

Now Pres. Macky Sall @Macky_Sall flirts with same destructive idea. ImageImageImageImage
I was working from #Senegal in 2012 & saw how far then-President Wade had gone astray from initial high hopes.

Like bringing in North Koreans to erect a pricey monument, then demanding a 35% cut of ticket prices because he felt the idea was his intellectual property. Image
When Pres. Wade tried to extend his term in 2012, #Senegal's people backed him down.

One opposition figure seen in the streets?

Now-president @Macky_Sall

11 years later, he's considering the same play.

You'd think he would remember the forces his predecessor unleashed. Image
In case President @Macky_Sall needs a refresher on his predecessor's attempt to do a 3rd term...

People died.

Many more were injured.

And #Senegal came dangerously close to discarding its unique democratic credibility & position in West Africa. ImageImageImageImage
Hoping @Macky_Sall @PR_Senegal hears @BarackObama's message.

Back in 2012, the #Obama administration's efforts helped dissuade Wade from bad choices & more violence in #Senegal.

africaintelligence.com/west-africa/20… Image

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More from @jsrailton

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carefully constructed image of being a clean mercenary spyware company that wasn't susceptible to abuses has been replaced by a more familiar tale of...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

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
Dec 21, 2024
BREAKING: NSO Group liable for #Pegasus hacking of @WhatsApp users.

Big win for spyware victims.

Big loss for NSO.

Bad time to be a spyware company.

Landmark case. Huge implications. 1/ 🧵Image
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2/ In 2019, 1,400 @WhatsApp users were targeted with #Pegasus.

WhatsApp did the right thing & sued NSO Group.

NSO has spent 5 years trying to claim that they are above the law.

And engaged in all sorts of maneuvering.

With this order, the music stopped and NSO is now without a chair.Image
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3/ Today, the court decided that enough was enough with NSO's gambits & efforts to hide source code.

Judge Hamilton granted @WhatsApp's motion for summary judgement against the #Pegasus spyware maker.

The judge finds NSO's hacking violated the federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (#CFAA), California state anti-fraud law #CDFA, and was a breach of contract.

What happens next? The trial proceeds only on the issue of resolving damages stemming from NSO's hacking.

Order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Read 12 tweets

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