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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

#271

Post by b112 »

wutbrodo wrote: post #207
can16358p wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the only thing that makes sense. What if your battery is dead? Not having access to the menu would be ridiculous.

Not quite the same thing, but I had to head home early one night recently because my phone had died (which almost never happens to me) so I couldn't show vaccination-proof. I would guess that a person's phone dying while bar-hopping is much more common than dying while dining alone (since when dining with others, you can just look at their menus). You're not wrong that this fundamentally excludes those who don't have…

because my phone had died (which almost never happens to me) so I couldn't show vaccination-proof.

I'm in Canada, and we use QR codes, signed by the government, to show and validate status.

Mine is printed out, and in my pocket. No phone is required.

Thus, no one needs to avoid anything, phone or not.

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

#272

Post by mola »

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.

Going after NSO is far from useless. These guys make 100s of millions, this gives them power to subvert and influence politicians so criminalizing this sort of surveillance will be impossible. Once NSO employees and founders be held responsible for the damage they do and the life they ruin you'll see much less talent go and work there or establish new companies of the same sort.

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

#273

Post by emerongi »

bduerst wrote: post #230
Xavdidtheshadow wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great rec! This is one of my favorite technical podcasts. The host does a great job getting into the technical details of the subjects while still appealing to non-techincal listeners. It's really impressive.

Subbed. Any other recos? Been looking to scratch that Reply All itch.

A fun one used to be "Hackable?" It's more about gadgets than big hacks. No new episodes for a while though.

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

#274

Post by vadfa »

saagarjha wrote: post #245
boardwaalk wrote: post #239

I feel like phones should just have a "scrub anything that isn't ASCII text" option for paranoid folks. No unicode, no emoji, no media. I mean, I guess they could still f*ck that up, and maybe it'd be admitting defeat, but still.

This necessarily excludes people whose primary language for communication does not fit in a Latin alphabet.

Most of those, in my experience, effortlessly transliterate what they say into the Latin alphabet when they need to use a medium that requires it.

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

#275

Post by nivenkos »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #212
OminousWeapons wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on what your threat model is. If its individuals, local law enforcement, or even national law enforcement (context dependent) you are trying to hide from, you can obtain phones with cash and make it very difficult to link them to you (use a sim card bought with cash and never give out that number, use a VOIP service for your primary number, use an OS that doesn't send back much telemetry, turn off location…

> use a sim card bought with cash Varies by country I’m sure, but I was surprised how difficult it was to buy a SIM in Indonesia and Malaysia without an ID. Even little shops wanted an ID or passport number to type in to activate it.

Same in Sweden, a pain if you just come for a little time.

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

#276

Post by hyperstar »

joe_the_user wrote: post #31
hyperstar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rejecting the smartphone might be a start.

I don't think you can escape the use of the smart phone. But treating them as "throw-away", as not your device, etc. I think the original landlines, which were/are a few switches connected to a write on one side and some microphones on the other, were close to inherently insecure. Phones haven't ever been "your device" whereas a laptop might, maybe be rendered trustworthy.

I think there should always be physical off-switches for microphones: it should be possible to know that the thing is not listening. But smartphones also have other private information on them than what can be captured by its microphone.

I don't think the smartphone is inescapable at all, and I don't think any of the conveniences it offers is worth surrendering one's privacy. But there is a tendency in businesses to ignore the fact that some potential customers do not have smartphones. I wonder if legislation against this might be possible.

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

#277

Post by Tepix »

ralston3 wrote: post #178

Do these types of iMessage attachment exploits require the victim to do anything on their end? Downloading the attachment? Opening the message ? That part is unclear to me

I think they require you to have iMessage enabled. If you don't use iMessage you should turn it off.

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

#278

Post by KMag »

PeterisP wrote: post #199
sterlind wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds like they should be treated like mercenaries.

What exactly do you mean by "treated like mercenaries", what should be the treatment in your opinion ? In general, countries do hire mercenaries/private military contractors/etc, and it is not considered anything special, and many powerful countries (including e.g. the USA) routinely use mercenaries in their campaigns. the "sending" nation may restrict their people and companies from mercenary actions abroad if they…

Presumably the GP means that the NSO employees should be held personally responsible for actions taken by the NSO group, without diplomatic cover or ability to claim that they're law enforcement/military/intelligence. They are civilians, not uniformed government employees.

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

#279

Post by Tepix »

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.

Saying you can't be secure at all isn't a solution.

https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2021/07/20/a-case-a...

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

#280

Post by nobody9999 »

entropea wrote: post #260
nobody9999 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>His confinement to the Embassy of Equador since 2010 Assange, as a bail jumper and fugitive, requested and received asylum from Ecuador. He could have, at any time, left the Ecuadorian embassy. In fact, had he done so, he'd likely have been investigated, prosecuted and potentially convicted of the charges against him. Had that come to pass, it's entirely likely that Assange would have completed any sentence of incar…

Except for the part where the CIA had plans to extrajudically assassinate him. >“That the CIA also conspired to seek the rendition and extrajudicial assassination of Julian Assange is a state-sponsored crime against the press,” she added. >In response, the CIA and the White House began preparing for a number of scenarios to foil Assange’s Russian departure plans, according to three former officials. Those included po…

I wrote a long reply to your comment, but given the content of the comment you replied to and your "rebuttal" of same, I deleted it.

Timelines matter. I suggest you check yours. That is all.

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