The past twelve months in cybersecurity have been a rough ride. In cybersecurity, everything is broken — it’s just a matter of finding it — and this year felt like everything broke at once, especially towards the end of the year. But for better or worse, we end the year knowing more than we did […]
It’s time for democracies to protect dissidents from spyware
Only by enacting stronger regulatory and legal protections can democracies ensure their survival, enable free speech to flourish and safeguard their citizens’ well-being.
A massive ‘stalkerware’ leak puts the phone data of thousands at risk
The private phone data of hundreds of thousands of people are at risk. Call records, text messages, photos, browsing history, precise geolocations and call recordings can all be pulled from a person’s phone because of a security issue in widely used consumer-grade spyware. But that’s about as much as we can tell you. TechCrunch repeatedly […]
Google pulls ‘stalkerware’ ads that promoted phone spying apps
Google has pulled several “stalkerware” ads that violated its policies by promoting apps that encouraged prospective users to spy on their spouses’ phone. These consumer-grade spyware apps are often marketed to parents wishing to monitor their child’s calls, messages, apps, photos and location, often under the guise of protecting against predators. But these apps, which […]
Apple patches an NSO zero-day flaw affecting all devices
Apple has released security updates for a zero-day vulnerability that affects every iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Citizen Lab, which discovered the vulnerability and was credited with the find, urges users to immediately update their devices. The technology giant said iOS 14.8 for iPhones and iPads, as well as new updates for Apple Watch […]
A new NSO zero-click attack evades Apple’s iPhone security protections, says Citizen Lab
A Bahraini human rights activist’s iPhone was silently hacked earlier this year by a powerful spyware sold to nation-states, defeating new security protections that Apple designed to withstand covert compromises, say researchers at Citizen Lab. The activist, who remains in Bahrain and asked not to be named, is a member of the Bahrain Center for […]