Tag Archive for: Government’s

Spyware industry develops most zero-days and governments promote it


Commercial spyware vendors appear to be the largest developers of zero-day vulnerabilities. Through these vulnerabilities, spyware such as Pegasus and Predator can be installed on devices worldwide. This was stated in a report by Google, in which the tech company is also calling for greater actions against the practices of the spyware industry. Governments should ban those actions, but that is hard because they themselves are buyers of the spyware.

Last year, the Threat Analysis Group (TAG) at Google closely monitored the activities of 40 commercial spyware vendors (CSVs). With the study, TAG determined that these vendors were responsible for 80 percent of the zero-day vulnerabilities found by TAG in 2023. It means that these vendors sought and exploited the vulnerability. The exploitation was aimed at spying on devices around the world.

Pegasus and Predator

In the report, TAG mentions several of these CSVs by name. They are said to include Cy4Gate, RCS Lab, Negg Group and Variston. Intellexa is also named as the developer of the Predator spyware. This spyware came into the spotlight late last year following an Amnesty International investigation. Predator was allegedly purchased by at least 25 countries and deployed to spy on U.S. and EU politicians.

Another vendor, perhaps even better known, is NSO Group. This company made plenty of headlines after the discovery of Pegasus spyware. This software came to light after Apple contacted top European officials on the possibility of spyware on their Apple devices.

Only a fraction of the reality

Commercial spyware vendors appear to have increasingly focused on zero-day vulnerabilities over the years. Over ten years, Google can attribute 35 of the 72 zero-day vulnerabilities found and exploited to these vendors.

So over a ten-year period, the percentage does not even reach 50 percent. Last year, however, it had already reached 80 percent. It seems like these commercial vendors have, mainly in recent years, scaled up their activities to find and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities.

Still, there is another possible conclusion. Namely, TAG’s study assumes the zero-day vulnerabilities found. Researchers have…

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How governments can win the cyber war – Technology Record


When cybercriminals launched a ransomware attack on Kalix Kommun one night, they infiltrated the Swedish municipality’s entire IT database and shut down systems managing everything from communications to finances, medical records and heating and ventilation in municipal buildings. The blackout impacted more than 1,600 employees and around 16,000 citizens.   


The City of Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada, faced a similar situation when its IT environment was breached and held hostage for multiple millions of dollars. Meanwhile, a two-pronged nation state attack on the Government of Albania caused 1,118 e-services to go down for three days. 


While all three government organisations were able to rapidly prevent widespread damage and regain control of their IT systems with the help of Microsoft technology, their experiences give a small insight into the extent of the cyber warfare being waged on government agencies around the world. In fact, the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2023 found that 53 per cent of the “dramatically increasing” number of cyberattacks in more than 100 countries and territories were focused specifically on critical infrastructure and government organisations. 


“Governments are prime targets for ransomware and nation state attacks because they hold a lot of valuable data and they operate the critical infrastructure and services that keep countries running and people safe and healthy,” says Kirk Arthur, worldwide government solutions lead at Microsoft, who previously led data breach investigations for the US Secret Service. “They’re also plagued by challenges such as patched and siloed legacy IT systems, insufficient password control and authentication policies, limited financial resources, and a lack of personnel with the skills and knowledge to implement robust cybersecurity measures.” 


Governments must strengthen their defences to combat such attacks because they compromise far more than just devices, data and networks; they endanger the public and pose serious risks to society.  


“Attacks on critical infrastructure such as power grids, transport networks, water supply or healthcare systems can paralyse…

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Is government’s anti-disinformation unit protecting or persecuting citizens? – PublicTechnology


Government claims the Counter Disinformation Unit – accused of effectively spying on its own citizens – has played a key role in tackling Kremlin narratives, and will be important in election preparations

“The CDU uses publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to develop an understanding of disinformation narratives and trends. It does not, and has never, monitored individuals and all data is anonymised wherever possible.”

This is how the government summarises the work and methods of its Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU). The unit is based in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and, in its current form, was “stood up” in the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in spring 2020, with a remit to tackle false information about the pandemic circulating online.

Others have a different, and darker take on how the CDU goes about its business. Some of the fiercest recent criticism of the unit has come from close to the heart of government itself.

“To the best of our knowledge, the CDU undertakes its work in the absence of effective transparency, oversight, accountability mechanisms or due process,” said a letter sent last month to DSIT secretary Michelle Donelan by David Davis – the MP who formerly served as Brexit secretary and Conservative party chair.

As reported by the Telegraph, the missive, co-signed by Labour MP Bell-Ribeiro Addy and the Green party’s Caroline Lucas, added: “We call on you to suspend the CDU immediately and commission an independent review of its work, in order to ensure that the rights to freedom of expression and privacy are sufficiently protected.”

According to a report published earlier this year by the Daily Mail and campaign group Big Brother Watch, the MPs are just three among many citizens whose online posts have been flagged by government and military disinformation units – despite the posts, in some cases, containing no factual inaccuracies, but merely being critical of government policy.

The MPs’ concerns about the CDU’s lack of transparency, at least, seem difficult to refute. Government has repeatedly failed to provide basic operational…

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Cyberattacks on local governments are on the rise, highlighting a need for enhanced security


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