söndag 5 maj 2013

Äkta Cyberterror: Myndigheter infekterar datorer med virus i stor skala


Cyberterror: Myndigheter infekterar datorer med virus
RT 2013-05-03
Virus från myndigheter börjar bli ett allt större hot för vanliga datoranvändare världen över. Myndigheternas virus och trojaner infekterar idag 100-tusentals datorer och mobiler för att avlyssna och kartlägga stora grupper av människor.


Finfisher promo videos | Finspy

Video uppladdad den 8 december 2011
Promotional video from the company Gamma Group of their software. This software was delivered to Egypt to spy on its citizens.
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Exempelvis spelar myndigheternas hantlangare in mobilsamtal, skannar av hårddiskar, stjäl personlig information, bilder och lösenord. Utöver detta kartläggs umgängeskretsen, och personers surfvanor eller rörelsemönster via mobilens GPS.

Myndigheterna har genom den senaste programvaran även full kontroll över övervakningsobjekten i "real time".

Citizen Lab, en forskningsenhet inom digital kommunikation på Torontos universitet, har under en längre tid kartlagt utvecklingen.

Myndigheterna kallar detta för etisk övervakning. Viruspaketen som är utvecklade i både EU, USA och andra västländer ingår även hos våra svenska myndigheter via deras s.k. etiska hackers. Detta är några av de "offensiva verktyg" myndigheter idag förfogar över.

Det finns inget etiskt i det här utan det är samma typ av trojaner och virus som kriminella använder för att infektera datorer. Rapporten från Torontos Universitet kommer också till samma slutsats.

Notera att just den här programvara är speciellt designad för att inte kunna avslöjas via kommersiellt tillgängliga virusskanners. *
FinFisher är ett komplett intrångspaket (aka trojaner eller virus) som enligt tillverkarna enbart säljs till polis och säkerhetstjänster. FinFisher dyker ändå ofta upp lite här och där. Enligt Citizen Labs forskningsenhet på Torontos universitet, har FinFishers intrångsmjukvara hittats i elva nya länder bara under det senaste året.

Sammanlagt har Universitetet i Toronto funnit den skadliga programvaran i 36 olika länder. Tyska myndigheter har tidigare avslöjats att lägga trojaner på privatpersoners hårddiskar för avlyssning och övervakning.

Wikileaks avslöjade tidigare att Gamma International, ett Tysk-Engelskt företag, registrerat på Brittiska Jungfruöarna, hade sålt programvaran och andra tjänster till Hosni Mubarak och Egyptens säkerhetstjänst som betalat 350.000 dollar för intrångspaketet och utbildning i anslutning till detta.
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http://rt.com/news/citizen-lab-finfisher-wikileaks-spyware-788/
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FinFisher Trojan tools
Video uppladdad den 12 december 2011
Troyan tools manufactured by Gamma, UK company. These videos are collected by Wikileaks, Owni.fr and Privacy International.
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Redaktören noterar även att människor i de flesta diktaturerna idag anser att det här är grova brott mot de mänskliga rättigheterna. Diktaturernas övervakning är ändå rena söndagsskolan mot FRA och svenska myndigheters obegränsade möjligheter att spionera på medborgarna.

Visst, de flesta andra diktaturer använder för tillfället brutalare åtgärder i hanteringen av personer som redovisar oönskad information, men men de länderna har också mycket sämre PR-byråer än exempelvis Sverige.

Det är tydligt att om makten hotas här i Sverige, så uppvisar den precis samma egenskaper som i (andra) diktaturer.
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RT 2013-05-03
More and more regimes across the world are using Western-made ‘lawful intercept’ software to spy on their own citizens, a brand new report has revealed.

Citizen Lab, a digital research unit at the University of Toronto, says that servers running notorious FinFisher software have been found in eleven new countries over the past year, bringing the total number of states where servers have been detected to 36.

FinFisher is an "IT intrusion and remote monitoring solution" that is "solely offered to law enforcement and intelligence agencies", according to its makers Gamma International. Behind the euphemisms is a toolkit of malware which can infect a user’s computer or phone and then track his movements, record his conversations, and steal his confidential documents and passwords.

It is produced by Gamma International, an Anglo-German company registered in the British Virgin Islands. It first rose to prominence two years ago when documents published on whistleblower website Wikileaks revealed that the Egyprian security services during the regime of Hosni Mubarak paid over $350,000 to use the software.

Citizen Lab says ‘permissive’ standards are used by Gamma International and other publicity-shy companies in the largely unregulated spyware market. They also argue that the term ‘lawful intercept’ – which allows the companies to sell hacking software without being arrested – is just a fig leaf.
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“There is nothing inherently lawful about the capabilities of these tools. They are simply trojans sold to states, not individuals,” declares the report.

The newest detection scan by Citizen Lab, which was aided by sympathetic anti-malware producers (whose software Finfisher successfully evades) showed that fresh servers have appeared in Hungary, Turkey, Romania, Panama, Lithuania, Macedonia, South Africa, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bulgaria and Austria.

Citizen Lab says the location of the servers does not necessarily mean they are being operated by governments in those countries, but they also point out that the true number of clients may be much higher than the scan has revealed, as Gamma International constantly tries to conceal the signature of its servers.

In any case, recent examples of Finfisher being used unethically, and possibly illegally are plentiful.
In Morocco Mamfakinch, a website critical of the government, was infiltrated through software posing as popular browser Mozilla Firefox.

Somewhat ironically, anti-government activists in Bahrain were targeted with a fake email attachment that alleged to shed the latest information on state-sanctioned torture.

In Malaysia, politically active internet users were monitored after they clicked on a list of candidates in the upcoming presidential election.

“The 20th century is rife with politically motivated abuse of electronic surveillance that runs contrary to legal and constitutional protections. There is no reason to suspect that remote intrusion and surveillance software isn’t subject to the same temptations,” say the reports authors.

Instead, of lofty words, the Mozilla Foundation, which produces Firefox, has sent a cease-and-desist order to Gamma International. On its blog it said the company "uses our brand and trademarks to lie and mislead as one of its methods for avoiding detection and deletion" while its software is "used by Gamma’s customers to violate citizens’ human rights and online privacy”.

But Citizen Lab has called not for piecemeal defensive legal moves, but a new level of supervision for the shadowy commercial surveillance industry, estimated to be worth $5 billion. It hopes its attempt at a comprehensive study, reveals the scale of the problem.

“The proliferation of increasingly powerful commercial surveillance tools has serious implications not just for dissidents and activists, but for all of us, no matter our citizenship,” the report summarizes.
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http://rt.com/news/citizen-lab-finfisher-wikileaks-spyware-788/
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The evidence submitted contains a witness statement from Bahraini activist and writer Ala'a Shehabi, 30. She has both Bahraini and British citizenship, and is one of the founding members of Bahrain Watch, an independent research and advocacy organization set up following a security crackdown in the country in February 2011.

Shebabi became one of the targets of the FinSpy malware emails, developed by UK firm Gamma International, the Guardian reported.

The activist claimed she received four phishing emails from what appeared to be authentic email accounts after being released after detention.

The FinSpy software reportedly allows for surveillance of emails, social media messaging and Skype calls, and can retrieve files saved on an infected computer's hard drive. It also can remotely operate microphones and cameras on computers and mobile phones.

“I have real concerns about the Bahraini regime having effective unfettered access to my computer, reading my emails and monitoring my calls. Not only is this a gross invasion of my privacy, I am concerned that it could put in danger from the Bahraini authorities myself, my family members and other activists,” the paper quoted Shehabi as saying.

http://rt.com/news/bahrain-finspy-activists-uk-171/
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Äkta Cyberterror: Myndigheter infekterar datorer med virus i stor skala

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Vidareläsning:
Finfisher promo videos
Fler videos som avslöjar spionpaketets möjligheter
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Gamma International offers advanced spyware, which has repeatedly been discovered in countries who mistreat journalists, like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The Finfisher Technology sold by Gamma International is able to read encrypted files, emails and listen in to voice over IP calls. Among the targeted was Ala'a Shehabi, a journalist, university lecturer and activist from Bahrain, now living in London.
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http://surveillance.rsf.org/en/gamma-international/
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Reporters Without Borders has contacted Gamma International in February 2013.

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2 kommentarer:

  1. Under Mattan Blogg5 maj 2013 kl. 18:24

    IP: 147.186.254.98 May 05, 2013 12:21:42 AM
    ISP: Rikspolisstyrelsen
    Host: surf.police.se
    Landed: UNDER MATTAN: FILDELNING
    undermattans.blogspot.se/search/label/FILDELNING?updated-max=2012-02-2...

    SvaraRadera
  2. Anonym1 september 2013 kl. 03:22

    -American spy agencies launched 231 offensive cyber-operations in 2011 alone, leaked documents show-

    August 31, 2013

    By Madison Ruppert, End the Lie

    Leaked documents reveal that U.S. intelligence agencies were responsible for 231 offensive cyber-operations in 2011 alone, part of a more widespread expansion of cyberwarfare in the military and intelligence communities.

    The latest information was revealed in documents leaked by Edward Snowden to The Washington Post. The Post reports that it was contained in the recently reported classified intelligence budget and that it “provides new evidence that the Obama administration’s growing ranks of cyberwarriors infiltrate and disrupt foreign computer networks.”

    Under an extensive $652 million project codenamed GENIE, American operatives break into foreign computer networks “so that they can be put under surreptitious U.S. control,” according to the Post.

    Under the GENIE project, specialists would remotely place “covert implants” – advanced malicious software – on tens of thousands of computers, routers and firewalls every single year.

    While this kind of widespread use of malware isn’t surprising, it is quite amazing to learn that the U.S. government plans “to expand those numbers into the millions,” as the Post reports.

    Then again, given the amount of malware purchased and/or developed by employees of the U.S. government, it shouldn’t be shocking that they seek to get their money’s worth.

    Indeed, the budget revealed that the government devoted $25.1 million to “additional covert purchases of software vulnerabilities” from private malware vendors this year.

    While the Obama administration officially refuses to acknowledge these types of cyberwarfare programs, former U.S. officials confirmed and described “a campaign of computer intrusions that is far broader and more aggressive than previously understood” to the Post.

    The budget states that almost three-quarters of the 231 offensive operations conducted in 2011 targeted countries deemed to be “top-priority targets.”[...]

    http://endthelie.com/

    http://www.blacklistednews.com/American_spy_agencies_launched_231_offensive_cyber-operations_in_2011_alone%2C_leaked_documents_show/28546/0/38/38/Y/M.html

    SvaraRadera

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