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NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

citizenlab.ca

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Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#121

Post by wolverine876 »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #81
FridayoLeary wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What will happen when hiding even small illegal activities becomes impossible?

This depends on your threat model (what is illegal, who chooses to prosecute, etc) I was driving home today and the satnav warned us about driving over speed limit (74 mph on UK motorway). Ok. But the solution to that is technology - and organisation. There are speed cameras on this road. But most of the time they don't take images or don't trigger an action. If every road camera triggered a warning / fine on every v…

The problem is applying those rules to people whom the government wants to persecute.

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#122

Post by wolverine876 »

hyperstar wrote: post #19
FridayoLeary wrote: post #9

So how do we protect our privacy from the advance of technology? It doesn't seem possible. Just going after NSO is useless.

Rejecting the smartphone might be a start.

Many restaurants only provide menus via smartphones. Sporting events only accept electronic tickets. How can you reject it, practically?

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#123

Post by ChrisKnott »

stareatgoats wrote: post #72
midasuni wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was arrested in 2019 so your “over a decade” claim is demonstrably wrong. Could you point to amnesty international claiming belmarsh is torture?

His confinement to the Embassy of Equador since 2010 amply qualify as both imprisonment and torture [0]. If you like to argue that it does not literally qualify then I suggest you don't in the interest of not wasting everybody's time. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-48473898

Nils Melzer dismissed the fact that he was free to leave by making the analogy that someone in shark tank is "free to leave" their boat - but what is the analogy to being eaten by sharks here? Just the normal experience of being in prison in the UK? Is it the position of the UN that every person in prison in the UK is being "tortured"?

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#124

Post by 1cvmask »

nix23 wrote: post #103
1cvmask wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amnesty International is a mouthpiece for the UK/US governments on so many subjects including Syria and Chevron. They even famously withdrew their "support" for Steven DOnzinger who was prosecuted by Chevron for exposing their environmental damages in Latin America. It is a tainted and biased source. Use it as a source at your own peril.

Is the UN supported by Chevron too?

The corporate prosecution of Steven Donzinger by Chevron is in the US. The UN is not the one prosecuting him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Donziger

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#125

Post by estaseuropano »

catlikesshrimp wrote: post #89

Why aren't political exposed persons leaving iphones? It has been known for a while that it is not secure for them. An android tablet connecting to wifi hotspots only, or even lan only, with minimal software, and a dumb phone are more secure than iphone.

they need an actual functional phone. You can't be a journalist and not have a fully functional phone that access the internet whenever needed. I'm sure they use burners for sensitive stuff, but what are they supposed to use for their regular work, calls with the school, car navigation, ...

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#126

Post by gerdesj »

cyberpunk wrote: post #115
gerdesj wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And the US and England" When you are doing the information from the inside thing, you do need to get your players in line. England? I'm English ... and Welsh, Cornish, Scottish and tangentially Irish, not to mention German (check my username). The country is called Britain, the Great thing is only to distinguish from the other Britain - Brittany (part of France). You might as well call everyone from the USA as Texan…

> I'm English ... and Welsh, Cornish, Scottish and tangentially Irish, not to mention German (check my username). Sorry, but this is absolutely nonsensical to me, how can you be all these nationalities? Were you born on the most insane round trip flight ever or what? Edit: And sorry, as a Scot (One actually born there); 'the country' is not called 'Great Britain'. As a nationality we group identify as both $member-co…

My (properly) researched family tree is 15 generations deep for me personally, so far.

My uncle has done quite a lot of research. Quite a lot. At the extreme 15 gens down, you get this in your Ahnentafel:

"26921. Alice15 John (14829). Her married name was Trelowarth (14829). She was born circa 1550. She married Robert Trelowarth (14828) on 3 Oct 1574 at Wendron, Cornwall, UK. She died circa 1603 at Wendron, Cornwall, UK."

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#127

Post by cyberpunk »

gerdesj wrote: post #126
cyberpunk wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm English ... and Welsh, Cornish, Scottish and tangentially Irish, not to mention German (check my username). Sorry, but this is absolutely nonsensical to me, how can you be all these nationalities? Were you born on the most insane round trip flight ever or what? Edit: And sorry, as a Scot (One actually born there); 'the country' is not called 'Great Britain'. As a nationality we group identify as both $member-co…

My (properly) researched family tree is 15 generations deep for me personally, so far. My uncle has done quite a lot of research. Quite a lot. At the extreme 15 gens down, you get this in your Ahnentafel: "26921. Alice15 John (14829). Her married name was Trelowarth (14829). She was born circa 1550. She married Robert Trelowarth (14828) on 3 Oct 1574 at Wendron, Cornwall, UK. She died circa 1603 at Wendron, Cornwall,…

Oh, you're American? I'm pretty sure 15 generations ago I was probably Danish but that doesn't make me one of them... I kind of understand need to identify as someone more interesting though, I suppose. Perhaps you should just own who you are instead of pretending though my friend, maybe look into some meditation or such..

Edit: Apologies, I see you say you are British, however I've never met a British person who would ever identify as coming from more than one of our member countries. An Englishman calling himself Welsh? A Scot calling himself English? I mean.. I find it unlikely somehow.. But, hey ho, I'm often wrong and presumably this was one of those occasions. No offence intended.

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#128

Post by wolverine876 »

Ansil849 wrote: post #113
wolverine876 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the US and England were also spying on the journalist Julian Assange, and have kept him in prison and tortured him for over a decade. Ben Hubbard luckily just got hacked. As you probably know, these assertions are a big stretch for many people. Not everyone considers Assange a journalist. He was living in an embassy for most of those years, so while he was confined, it's not a prison and not torture. Hubbard isn't…

> neither the US or UK have ever imprisoned and tortured a journalist from a major publication (unless I'm overlooking someone). This was in the news just last month: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/soldiers-burst-in-the-bac... > A Belfast-born writer who has been a consistent critic of IRA violence has revealed how the British Army subjected him to electric shock torture outside his family home in the early years…

Thanks, great point. I think there's a distinction between peaceful open society - they wouldn't do it to a Guardian or Times journalist today in London - and a military occupation (Northern Ireland), but I'm not sure it's such a bright line: The government created that occupation (whatever its merits, I'm not debating them here) and could create another.

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#129

Post by caf »

sva_ wrote: post #54
cronix wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is they sell it, after the Israeli gov't (Israeli Defense Ministry) vets the sale. It is operated by the client. NSO has claimed they do not have any info on targets by the purchaser, and has no way to find out post-sale. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/interview-with-ceo-of-nso-group...

A german article[0] claimed that only a hashvalue of the telephone number is transmitted to NSO Group: > "Das BKA hat nach Angaben der stellvertretenden Behördenleiterin sichergestellt, dass keine sensiblen Daten bei der Firma NSO landen würden. So würden Hashwerte für Telefonnummern vergeben, damit das Unternehmen die Zielpersonen nicht identifizieren könne." They claim that this way the NSO Group would not be able…

Right. If the US can file charges against Assange and attempt to have him extradited to face them, it should be able to do the same with the NSO Group principals.

Re: NYT journalist hacked with Pegasus after reporting on previous hacking attempts

#130

Post by monopoledance »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #9

So how do we protect our privacy from the advance of technology? It doesn't seem possible. Just going after NSO is useless.

Legislation holding companies liable for breaches and leaks, which were in their capabilities to prevent. Simple and fair, scales well. No downsides.

Sure, not everything is always their fault, but usually it is and comes with yoloing from the first line of code, shipping alph… proof of concept software, or outsourcing their network’s security to MS Word. If a breach could ruin a company beyond reputation, people may stop storing cleartext credentials or testing merely their app’s UI at best; if a hacker could stop your show, companies may take bug bounty programs serious, and be grateful for disclosures instead of filing reports, when someone edit-and-resend’ed on a web API and accidentally got a copy of their database.

Today, a breach has zero consequences. Why would you spend a shitton of money on security, when marketing’s budget isn’t downright ridiculous yet?

And of course it would be super helpful, if governments would stop encouraging insecurity by buying e.g. NSO’s products for what they do. Always awkward persecuting someone you depend on… The NSO’s business should be straight illegal, including export/import. Since hacking someone without their consent usually comes with the ability to tamper with evidence, it’s really questionable for law enforcement and straight unethical for anyone else. Just kill the whole sector IMO.

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