Podcasts about Citizen Lab

Register for Free, Live webcasts & summits:https://poweredbybhis.com00:00 - PreShow Banter™ — Government Linux04:16 - Denmark is Done with Teams! - Talkin' Bout [infosec] News 2025-06-1605:02 - Story # 1: ‘We're done with Teams': German state hits uninstall on Microsoft17:34 - Story # 1b: Denmark Wants to Dump Microsoft Software for Linux, LibreOffice18:14 - Story # 2: Zero-click AI data leak flaw uncovered in Microsoft 365 Copilot25:50 - Story # 3: Fog ransomware attacks use employee monitoring tool to break into business networks30:25 - Story # 4: Expired Discord Invites Hijacked for Stealthy Malware Attacks34:00 - Story # 5: SmartAttack uses smartwatches to steal data from air-gapped systems40:25 - Story # 6: Mirai Botnets Exploiting Wazuh Security Platform Vulnerability44:47 - Story # 7: Google Cloud and Cloudflare hit by widespread service outages48:04 - Story # 8: UNFI cyberattack shuts down network and leaves Whole Foods and others in limbo50:34 - Story # 9: New SharePoint Phishing Attacks Using Lick Deceptive Techniques51:08 - Story # 10: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists, Citizen Lab finds53:32 - Story # 11: Five Zero-Days, 15 Misconfigurations Found in Salesforce Industry Cloud

I limiti pratici dell'ipotesi di arrivare a una forma di voto digitale in remoto, le novità sul caso Paragon emerse dopo la pubblicazione dell'analisi forense di The Citizen Lab e i possibili retroscena dell'attivazione di Starlink in Iran nel pieno del conflitto con Israele. A cura di Marco Schiaffino.

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 50: This week, we dissect cyber flashpoints in the Iran-Israel war, revisit the “magnet of threats” server in Iran that attracted APTs from multiple nation-states, and react to Israel's Mossad sneaking explosive drone swarms deep into Iran to support airstrikes. Plus, Stealth Falcon's new WebDAV zero-day, SentinelOne's brush with Chinese APTs, Citizen Lab's forensic takedown of Paragon's iPhone spyware, and the sneaky Meta/Yandex trick that links Android web browsing to app IDs. Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (https://twitter.com/juanandres_gs), Ryan Naraine (https://twitter.com/ryanaraine) and Costin Raiu (https://twitter.com/craiu).

We are all vulnerable to digital surveillance, as there's little protection to prevent our phones from getting hacked. Mercenary spyware products like Pegasus are powerful and sophisticated, marketed to government clients around the world. Cybersecurity expert Ron Deibert tells IDEAS, "the latest versions can be implanted on anyone's device anywhere in the world and as we speak, there is literally no defence against it.” Deibert is the founder of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, a group of tech-savvy researchers who dig into the internet, looking for the bad actors in the marketplace for high-tech surveillance and disinformation. In his new book, Chasing Shadows, he shares notorious cases he and his colleagues have worked on and reveals the dark underworld of digital espionage and subversion.

Since 2001, Ron Deibert and his team at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab have uncovered dozens of covert spy operations around the world, including the creators of the phone hacking spyware, Pegasus, created by the Israeli company, NSO group, whose clients include Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, and Rwanda's Paul Kagame. In a wide-ranging discussion, Deibert tells host Steve Paikin about his recent trip to the White House, the impact that the Trump administration's policies will have on cyber security worldwide, and why Canadians ought to be concerned by a bilateral agreement with the U.S. called the Cloud Act. His new book is called, "Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 39: Luta Security CEO Katie Moussouris joins the buddies to parse news around a coordinated Chinese exposure of Taiwan APT actors, CitizenLab's report on Paragon spyware and WhatsApp exploits, an “official” Russian government exploit-buying operation shopping for Telegram exploits, the fragmentation of exploit markets and the future of CISA in the face of budget cuts and layoffs. Cast: Katie Moussouris (https://lutasecurity.com), Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (https://twitter.com/juanandres_gs), Costin Raiu (https://twitter.com/craiu) and Ryan Naraine (https://twitter.com/ryanaraine).

The Citizen Lab said it believes several governments may be customers of spyware maker Paragon Solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 35: Juanito is live from DistrictCon with notes on discussion of an elusive iOS zero-day by a company called QuaDream and Apple's controversial removal of iCloud backup end-to-end encryption in the UK. We also cover a staggering $1.4 billion hack by the Lazarus Group against Bybit, new angles in NSA-linked cyber-espionage against China's top universities, Chinese hacking gangs moonlighting as ransomware criminals, and Russian APTs abusing Signal's “linked devices” feature. Plus, Costin explains Microsoft's quantum computing breakthrough. Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (https://twitter.com/juanandres_gs), Costin Raiu (https://twitter.com/craiu) and Ryan Naraine (https://twitter.com/ryanaraine).

As founder and director of the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, Ron Deibert has spent his career tracking down and uncovering some of the world's most clandestine cyber espionage operations. Now, the cybersecurity expert is pulling back the curtain on this shadowy world in his new book, Chasing Shadows. Deibert tells David Common how our democracies have become vulnerable to these threats as we become more reliant on technology – and what we need to do to protect them.

Guest: Ron Deibert, founder, Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and author of Chasing Shadows.

It's become pretty easy to spot phishing scams: UPS orders you never made, banking alerts from companies you don't bank with, phone calls from unfamiliar area codes. But over the past decade, these scams – and the technology behind them – have become more sophisticated, invasive and sinister, largely due to the rise of something called ‘mercenary spyware.'The most potent version of this tech is Pegasus, a surveillance tool developed by an Israeli company called NSO Group. Once Pegasus infects your phone, it can see your texts, track your movement, and download your passwords – all without you realizing you'd been hacked.We know a lot of this because of Ron Deibert. Twenty years ago, he founded Citizen Lab, a research group at the University of Toronto that has helped expose some of the most high profile cases of cyber espionage around the world.Ron has a new book out called Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy, and he sat down with me to explain how spyware works, and what it means for our privacy – and our democracy.Note: We reached out to NSO Group about the claims made in this episode and they did not reply to our request for comment.Mentioned:“Chasing Shadows: Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy,” by Ron Deibert“Meta's WhatsApp says spyware company Paragon targeted users in two dozen countries,” by Raphael Satter, ReutersFurther Reading:“The Autocrat in Your iPhone,” by Ron Deibert“A Comprehensive Analysis of Pegasus Spyware and Its Implications for Digital Privacy and Security,” Karwan Kareem“Stopping the Press: New York Times Journalist Targeted by Saudi-linked Pegasus Spyware Operator,” by Bill Marczak, Siena Anstis, Masashi Crete-Nishihata, John Scott-Railton, and Ron Deibert

Guest host David Common speaks with The Washington Post's Toluse "Tolu" Olorunnipa and Semafor's Kadia Goba about Donald Trump's flurry of controversial actions this past week, The Citizen Lab's Ron Deibert takes us inside the shadowy world of cyber espionage, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates reflects on how his early years shaped him, and political economist Mark Manger and Mathew Holmes from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce consider strategies to bolster Canada's economy amid Trump's tariff pause.Discover more at https://www.cbc.ca/sunday

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, and TikTok Canada.Greetings, you ever-curious Herle Burly-ites. I'm going to get right to it today, because we've got a topic that's both pervasive and invasive, and I've wanted to explore it for a while... It's Cybersecurity and Cyber Espionage Day on the podcast!With me is a guest whose CV in the field is as long and tall as a grain silo in my hometown of Prelate, Saskatchewan. Ron Deibert is here.He is a professor of political science the founder and director of the Citizen Lab – the world's foremost digital watchdog – at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab focuses on research, development, as well as strategic policy and legal engagement at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security.Ron's been a principal investigator and contributing author to more than 160 reports covering cyber espionage, commercial spyware, Internet censorship and human rights. Those reports have over 25 front page exclusives in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times and other media outlets, and have been cited by policymakers and academics. And his brand-new book – “Chasing Shadows” – tells the story of Citizen Lab and the dozens of cyber espionage cases it's exposed.So, we're going to find out more about Ron today, his backstory and what led him to the field. We'll dive into some of the cases he's been involved with. How governments and bad actors use these surveillance techniques, via our own computers and smartphones. And ask the question: how the hell can we be protected from all of this?Thank you for joining us on #TheHerleBurly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app.Watch episodes of The Herle Burly via Air Quotes Media on YouTube.

WhatsApp, used by millions of people around the world, says its users were hacked by the Paragon Solutions spyware company. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks with John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, about the continuing threat of sophisticated spyware. The post WhatsApp identifies dozens of users hacked by Paragon spyware company appeared first on The World from PRX.

WhatsApp, used by millions of people around the world, says its users were hacked by the Paragon Solutions spyware company. The World's Host Marco Werman speaks with John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, about the continuing threat of sophisticated spyware. The post WhatsApp identifies dozens of users hacked by Paragon spyware company appeared first on The World from PRX.

Tra le persone informate da Meta di essere state spiate su WhatsApp c'è anche Luca Casarini, capo missione e tra i fondatori di Mediterranea, la ONG che si occupa di salvare vite in mezzo al mare. Nel suo messaggio Meta consigliava di cambiare subito il cellulare e di rivolgersi ai propri consulenti, un team di ricerca basato all'Università di Toronto, "The Citizen Lab". Quasi contestualmente testate e agenzie giornalistiche internazionali davano la notizia della violazione dei sistemi di sicurezza di WhatsApp che coinvolgeva 90 'target' in tutto il mondo, in particolare attivisti della società civile e giornalisti. Il software utilizzato per effettuare l'infiltrazione spyware - precisa la ONG - è chiamato 'Paragon' ed è messo a punto dalla società israeliana Paragon Solutions, che ha dichiarato di averlo fornito 'al governo degli Usa e ad altre agenzie governative di intelligence di paesi alleati'. Non è la prima volta che giornalisti e attivisti che si occupano di migrazione finiscono in una torbida vicenda di intercettazioni abusive. Non è una novità nemmeno che le ONG siano da tempo nel mirino del governo e dei Servizi come già è accaduto negli anni passati con processi farseschi che si sono chiusi con un buco nell'acqua. Intimidire spiare e delegittimare chi si occupa di persone migranti è un'abitudine da tempo. Resta una domanda sostanziale: il governo sapeva di questo spionaggio? C'entra qualcosa? Perché sarebbe davvero grave riportare in Libia i torturatori su un volo di Stato e intercettare illegalmente chi salva le sue vittime. O no? #LaSveglia per La NotiziaDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/la-sveglia-di-giulio-cavalli--3269492/support.

Ronald Deibert of Citizen Lab tells host Michael Isikoff how his research firm has uncovered the shocking abuse of commercial spyware by foreign governments and spy agencies around the world, resulting in a proliferation of "Watergate-like” scandals.Follow our guest:Ron Deiberthttps://x.com/RonDeibertChasing Shadowshttps://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/Chasing-Shadows/The Citizen Labhttps://citizenlab.ca/https://x.com/citizenlab Follow Jeff Stein on Twitter:https://twitter.com/SpyTalkerFollow Michael Isikoff on Twitter:https://twitter.com/isikoff Follow SpyTalk on Twitter:https://twitter.com/talk_spySubscribe to SpyTalk on Substackhttps://www.spytalk.co/Take our listener survey where you can give us feedback.http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=short

Tech oligarchs have risen to dominate global politics and public discourse, posing grave threats to democracy and governance. Under Donald Trump's presidency, the consolidation of power among Silicon Valley elites has exacerbated critical challenges, including the spread of misinformation, the weaponization of social media, and the unchecked development of artificial intelligence. These forces have not only deepened political polarization but also paved the way for the normalization of extremism, undermining the foundations of truth in the digital era. The intersection of technological exploitation, political radicalization, and the information war presents urgent questions for the future of democratic societies. In this episode of Beyond the Headlines, we unpack these critical dynamics with two distinguished guests. Andres Kasekamp, an expert on populist radical right movements and European governance, explores the historical and political parallels of authoritarian trends. Ron Deibert, a global authority on cybersecurity and digital rights, highlights the ways in which tech platforms enable political manipulation and disinformation campaigns. Together, they offer in-depth insights into the complex role of digital platforms in amplifying authoritarianism and discuss potential pathways for mitigating their impact on democracy. Andres Kasekamp is the Elmar Tampõld Chair of Estonian Studies and Professor of History at the University of Toronto's Department of History and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He is a leading scholar on Baltic politics, memory politics, and populist radical right movements. Formerly a Professor of Baltic Politics at the University of Tartu and Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute in Tallinn, Kasekamp has held visiting positions at esteemed institutions such as Humboldt University in Berlin and the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs. Among his acclaimed works is A History of the Baltic States, which has been translated into multiple languages and remains a definitive text in the field. His research explores European foreign and security policy and the intricate dynamics of cooperation and conflict in the Baltic Sea region. Currently, he is editing The Oxford Handbook of Modern Baltic History. Ron Deibert is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. A pioneer in cybersecurity and human rights, Deibert has led the Citizen Lab's groundbreaking investigations into cyber espionage, commercial spyware, and digital censorship, producing over 120 influential reports. These include the Tracking Ghostnet investigation into cyber-espionage and the Reckless series, which revealed spyware abuses targeting journalists and activists. Deibert is also the author of RESET: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society, a winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. His work has earned numerous accolades, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award and the Order of Ontario. Beyond academia, he serves on advisory boards for organizations like Amnesty International and PEN Canada, making him a critical voice in addressing the intersection of technology, democracy, and civil liberties. Produced by: Julia Brahy

Three Buddy Problem - Episode 24: In this episode, we did into Lumen/Microsoft's revelations on Russia's Turla APT stealing from a Pakistani APT, and issues around fourth-party espionage and problems with threat actor attribution. We also discuss Citizen Lab's findings on Monokle-like spyware implanted by Russian authorities, the slow pace of Salt Typhoon disinfection, the Solana web3.js supply chain attack affecting crypto projects, and the Romanian election crisis over Russian interference via TikTok. Cast: Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (https://twitter.com/juanandres_gs), Costin Raiu (https://twitter.com/craiu)and Ryan Naraine (https://twitter.com/ryanaraine).

Ronald Deibert, director de la organización Citizen Lab de la Universidad de Toronto, conversó con La W acerca del software espía ‘Pegasus'.

By now, most people know how to recognize the signs of a phishing e-mail – poor spelling and grammar, strange sender e-mail addresses, and of course, an instruction to click on a link, where you're asked to put in your banking or login credentials. But these scams are becoming more sophisticated and politically motivated.Last week, Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto uncovered what they're calling the River of Phish campaign, which uses sophisticated social engineering practices to target people, including a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The Globe's telecom reporter Alexandra Posadzki is on the show to talk about what Citizen Lab found, how the scheme works, and what we know about the Russia-linked group behind it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Rebekah Brown and John Scott-Railton of the Citizen Lab join Dennis Fisher to dive into their group's new report on highly targeted spear phishing campaigns by the Russian threat actor COLDRIVER and then discuss the emergence of a new, possibly related group called COLDWASTREL. 

On 30 May, a new report produced by the digital rights organisation Access Now and Citizen Lab revealed the details of the latest Pegasus attack on Russian and Belarusian journalists and activists. Pegasus, a sophisticated spyware made by Israel's NSO Group made headlines in 2021 when it was discovered to have been targeted at thousands of people from all over the globe, including human rights activists and media workers. What makes this spyware so dangerous is that it doesn't require clicking on a link and some victims may never discover that they've been hacked. It can penetrate IOS and Android systems and gain full access to a device- including photos, passwords emails and even microphone. In this episode of Trouble with the Truth, Lana talks to Natalia Krapiva, the Senior Tech-Legal Counsel at Access Now about the latest targets of Pegasus attacks. Among them: the CEO of Novaya Gazeta, Maria Epifanova, journalists Evgeny Pavlov and Evgeny Erlikh, Belarusian activist Andrei Sannikovand, and the editor-in-chief of independent Belarusian media website Charter97.org - Natallia Radzina. They discuss what makes Pegasus so hard to identify and who could be behind it - while Russian and Belarusian authorities are the most obvious suspects, the truth is more complex. Finally, Natalia shares some useful advice on how journalists can protect themselves from spyware and what steps they should take if they discover they've been hacked. Useful resources: Access Now Digital Security helpline: https://www.accessnow.org/help/Citizen Lab Tools & Resources: https://citizenlab.ca/category/research/tools-resources/Justice for Journalists Media Safety Academy: https://jfj.academy/en/

In episode 334, hosts Tom Eston, Scott Wright, and Kevin Johnson discuss two major topics. First, they explore the ongoing legal battle between Citizen Lab and the Israeli spyware company NSO Group. The courts have consistently blocked NSO's attempts to access Citizen Lab's documents to protect victim privacy. Second, they discuss Apple's new AI features […] The post Citizen Lab vs. NSO Group, Apple AI and Privacy appeared first on Shared Security Podcast.

(***TIMESTAMPS in description below) ~Jonathan Scott is a Gray Hat Hacker. He is known for exposing the *real* story behind "Hotel Rwanda" and for his expertise on NSO Group's Mysterious Spyware, "Pegasus." - BUY Guest's Books & Films IN MY AMAZON STORE: https://amzn.to/3RPu952 EPISODE LINKS: - Julian Dorey PODCAST MERCH: https://juliandorey.myshopify.com/ - Support our Show on PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey - Join our DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Ajqn5sN6 JONATHON SCOTT'S LINKS: - JONATHON'S YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/jonathandata1 JULIAN YT CHANNELS: - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ***TIMESTAMPS*** 00:00 - Grey Hat Hacker, Pegasus, Bitcoin Controversy Case

From August 12, 2020: President Trump recently issued executive orders aimed at banning TikTok and WeChat from operating in the United States. To discuss the sanction, Bobby Chesney sat down with Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens, an associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a faculty affiliate with the Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Clements Center for National Security at UT; and Dr. Ronald Deibert, a professor of political science and the founder and director of The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. In addition to the executive orders concerning TikTok and WeChat, they also discussed the larger U.S.-China relationship and the role of technology competition in that space.To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/c/trumptrials.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Around the globe, journalists, human rights activists, scholars and others are facing digital attacks from Pegasus, military-grade spyware originally developed to go after criminals. Some of the people targeted have been killed or are in prison.In this episode, Reveal partners with the Shoot the Messenger podcast to investigate one of the biggest Pegasus hacks ever uncovered: the targeting of El Faro newspaper in El Salvador.In the opening story, hosts Rose Reid and Nando Vila speak with El Faro co-founder Carlos Dada and reporter Julia Gavarrete. El Faro has been lauded for its investigations into government corruption and gang violence. The newspaper is no stranger to threats and intimidation, which have increased under the administration of President Nayib Bukele.Reid and Vila also speak with John Scott-Railton of Citizen Lab, a Toronto-based digital watchdog group. Scott-Railton worked to identify the El Faro breach, and it was one of the most obsessive cases of spying Citizen Lab has ever seen.Over the course of one year, 22 members of the newspaper's staff had their phones infected with Pegasus and were surveilled by a remote operator. Researchers suspect Bukele's government was behind the spying, though officials have denied those allegations. The breach forced El Faro's journalists to change the way they work and live and take extreme measures to protect sources and themselves. Then Reid talks with Reveal's Al Letson about growing efforts to hold the NSO Group, the company behind Pegasus, accountable for the massive digital attacks. Support Reveal's journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Citizen Lab founder and director Ron Deibert reflects on what's changed in the world of spyware, surveillance, and social media since he delivered his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society. *This episode is part of an ongoing series of episodes marking the 60th anniversary of Massey College, a partner in the Massey Lectures.

Explore cybersecurity threats and solutions with experts analyzing critical vulnerabilities in keyboard apps, a $5.6 million privacy breach settlement for Ring users, and the latest trends in cyber attacker dwell times. Gain insights on global security measures and personal privacy protection. Sources: https://citizenlab.ca/2024/04/vulnerabilities-across-keyboard-apps-reveal-keystrokes-to-network-eavesdroppers/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ring-customers-get-56-million-in-privacy-breach-settlement/ https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/04/24/2023-attacker-dwell-time/ 00:00 Intro 01:03 Deep Dive into Keyboard App Vulnerabilities and User Protection Tips 03:39 Ring's Privacy Breach: Details and Consumer Compensation 06:09 Cybersecurity Wins: Decreased Attacker Dwell Time and Enhanced Defenses 09:53 Conclusion: The Future of Cybersecurity and the Role of Large Language Models Tags: cybersecurity, privacy breach, keyboard apps, encryption, Ring settlement, attacker dwell time, data protection, smart home security Search Phrases: keyboard app security flaws Ring privacy breach settlement details reducing cyber attacker dwell time encryption vulnerabilities in keyboard apps FTC refund to Ring users how to protect against cybersecurity threats latest trends in cybersecurity attacks privacy and security in smart home devices Summarized Transcript: Welcome to the Daily Decrypt, your essential guide to navigating the digital domain. In today's episode, we're uncovering critical vulnerabilities in popular Chinese pinyin keyboard apps, exploring a substantial privacy breach with Ring's camera system, and diving into the global improvements in cybersecurity detection times. Join us as we decode the digital world, keeping your data safe and your curiosity alive. Our journey begins with a startling revelation from Citizen Lab. Over 1 billion users of popular Chinese pinyin keyboard apps are at a crossroads, facing the risk of having their keystrokes decrypted. Among the inspected vendors - Baidu, Honor, Huawei, iFlytec, Oppo, Samsung, Tencent, Vivo, and Xiaomi - most apps remain a breach waiting to happen, with network eavesdroppers able to exploit vulnerabilities passively. How can users shield themselves against such invasive threats? Turning off cloud-based services and opting for a more secure keyboard ecosystem are steps in the right direction. Next, we delve into the breach that shook trust to its core - Ring's privacy debacle. A staggering 5.6 million in refunds are being distributed to affected customers, a move prompted by the Federal Trade Commission after unauthorized access of private video feeds came to light. The case brings to the forefront the critical need for robust security measures in IoT devices, especially those designed for security like cameras. How did Ring respond to the breach, and what can consumers learn from this incident to protect their own digital footprints? On a brighter note, global security saw an inspiring leap forward in 2023. Organizations now detect intrusions in a median of 10 days, a significant improvement from the previous 16 days in 2022. This progress indicates a strengthening in defense mechanisms against cyber threats. But with ransomware and zero-day exploits on the rise, how can organizations maintain this momentum and ensure the safety of our digital realms? Additionally, the emergence of large language models like OpenAI introduces new dynamics in both defense and offense within cybersecurity. These powerful tools aid in the development of new technologies and the fast analysis of vast datasets. However, the unrestricted usage by attackers versus the ethical constraints on defenders presents unique challenges. How will this play out in the evolving cybersecurity landscape? This has been the Daily Decrypt. If today's episode unlocked new perspectives for you, show your support with a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Follow us on Instagram, or catch our episodes on YouTube for more insights into the cyber world. Until next time, keep your data safe and your curiosity sparked.

This week, a public consultation period ended for a new Hong Kong national security law, known as Article 23. Article 23 ostensibly targets a wide array of crimes, including treason, theft of state secrets, espionage, sabotage, sedition, and "external interference" from foreign governments. The Hong Kong legislature, dominated by pro-Beijing lawmakers, is expected to approve it, even as its critics argue that the law criminalizes basic human rights, such as the freedom of expression, signaling a further erosion of the liberties once enjoyed by the residents of Hong Kong.To learn more about what is happening in Hong Kong and what role tech firms and other outside voices could be doing to preserve freedoms for the people of Hong Kong, Justin Hendrix spoke to three experts who are following developments there closely:Chung Ching Kwong, senior analyst at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on ChinaLokman Tsui, a fellow at Citizen Lab at University of Toronto, andMichael Caster, the Asia Digital Program Manager with Article 19.

The sixth episode of Season VI "Saturated" : IU Edition welcomes Jason Q. Ng, Author of Blocked On Weibo where he writes about Chinese internet censorship and currently works as a Data Scientist at Duolingo.In this episode Jason discusses how he has used data throughout his career to democratize information in order to help people learn about everything from incarceration rates in his work as a researcher with Citizen Lab, to helping artists on  connect with listeners on Spotify, to helping people worldwide learn a new language through his work at Duolingo. He talks about the use of propaganda in China to misinform citizens through social media and the complexity of who should be the arbiter of free speech on a global stage. From the moment he started a blog on Chinese censorship that would eventually led to his book, Jason has been moved to help people learn and act on data in a way that positively impacts society. He currently lives and works in New York City with his wife and son. 

In this bonus episode of Shoot the Messenger, we share a special interview host Rose Reid did with Russian journalist and founder of the media outlet Meduza, Galina Timchenko. Citizen Lab and Access Now confirmed Galina Timchenko had been infected with Pegasus — which is the first documented case of the use of Pegasus against a Russian journalist. Before Galina Timchenko was the editor in chief of Meduza, she ran one of Russia's most popular media outlets, called Lenta.ru. She was fired as Lenta.ru's chief editor in 2014, after Vladimir Putin returned to power, the same year of Russia's annexation of Crimea. Since 2014, Galina and her team have been reporting on Russia in exile.  We'll launch our second season in early 2024 - which investigates “Who Killed the President of Haiti?”  In the meantime, we will bring you monthly bonus episodes - featuring our favorite shows and updates on Pegasus.

From August 12, 2020: President Trump recently issued executive orders aimed at banning TikTok and WeChat from operating in the United States. To discuss the sanction, Bobby Chesney sat down with Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens, an associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a faculty affiliate with the Strauss Center for International Security and Law and the Clements Center for National Security at UT; and Dr. Ronald Deibert, a professor of political science and the founder and director of The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. In addition to the executive orders concerning TikTok and WeChat, they also discussed the larger U.S.-China relationship and the role of technology competition in that space.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Around the globe, journalists, human rights activists, scholars and others are facing digital attacks from Pegasus, military-grade spyware originally developed to go after criminals. Some of the people targeted have been killed or are in prison. In this episode, Reveal partners with the Shoot the Messenger podcast to investigate one of the biggest Pegasus hacks ever uncovered: the targeting of El Faro newspaper in El Salvador. In the opening story, hosts Rose Reid and Nando Vila speak with El Faro co-founder Carlos Dada and reporter Julia Gavarrete. El Faro has been lauded for its investigations into government corruption and gang violence. The newspaper is no stranger to threats and intimidation, which have increased under the administration of President Nayib Bukele. Reid and Vila also speak with John Scott-Railton of Citizen Lab, a Toronto-based digital watchdog group. Scott-Railton worked to identify the El Faro breach, and it was one of the most obsessive cases of spying Citizen Lab has ever seen. Over the course of one year, 22 members of the newspaper's staff had their phones infected with Pegasus and were surveilled by a remote operator. Researchers suspect Bukele's government was behind the spying, though officials have denied those allegations. The breach forced El Faro's journalists to change the way they work and live and take extreme measures to protect sources and themselves.  Then Reid talks with Reveal's Al Letson about growing efforts to hold the NSO Group, the company behind Pegasus, accountable for the massive digital attacks. Support Reveal's journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

On June 23, 2023, hours before Yevgeny Prigozhin would shock the world by staging a mutiny against the Russian military, Meduza co-founder and CEO Galina Timchenko learned that her iPhone had been infected months earlier with “Pegasus.” The spyware's Israeli designers market the product as a crimefighting super-tool against “terrorists, criminals, and pedophiles,” but states around the world have abused Pegasus to track critics and political adversaries who sometimes end up arrested or even murdered. Access to Pegasus isn't cheap: Researchers believe the service costs tens of millions of dollars, meaning that somebody — some government agency out there — paid maybe a million bucks to hijack Timchenko's smartphone. Why would somebody do that? How would somebody do that? And who could have done it? For answers, The Naked Pravda turned to two experts: Natalia Krapiva, tech-legal counsel for Access Now, a nonprofit organization committed to “defending and extending” the digital civil rights of people worldwide, and John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory at the University of Toronto that investigates digital espionage against civil society. Timestamps for this episode: (3:39) Galina Timchenko's hacked iPhone is the first confirmed case of a Pegasus infection against a Russian journalist (6:16) NSO Group's different contract tiers for Pegasus users (9:59) How aware is NSO Group of Pegasus's rampant misuse? (12:29) Why hasn't Europe done more to restrict the use of such spyware? (15:50) Russian allies using Pegasus (17:58) E.U. members using Pegasus (21:37) Training required to use Pegasus and the spyware's technical side (27:38) The forensics needed to detect a Pegasus infection (35:46) Is Pegasus built more to find criminals or members of civil society? (40:10) Imagining a global moratorium on military-grade spyware (43:22) “A German solution” (45:14) Where the West goes from hereКак поддержать нашу редакцию — даже если вы в России и вам очень страшно

A new type of mercenary spyware came on the radar called Predator. It'll infect a mobile phone, and then suck up all the data from it. Contacts, text messages, location, and more. This malware is being sold to intelligence agencies around the world. In this episode we hear from Crofton Black at Lighthouse Reports who spent 6 months with a team of journalists researching this story which was published here: https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/flight-of-the-predator/. We also hear from Bill Marczak and John Scott-Railton from Citizen Lab. If you want to hear about other mercenary spyware, check out episodes 99 and 100, about NSO group and Pegasus. To hear another episode about Greece check out episode 64 called Athens Shadow Games. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Axonius. The Axonius solution correlates asset data from your existing IT and security solutions to provide an always up-to-date inventory of all devices, users, cloud instances, and SaaS apps, so you can easily identify coverage gaps and automate response actions. Axonius gives IT and security teams the confidence to control complexity by mitigating threats, navigating risk, decreasing incidents, and informing business-level strategy — all while eliminating manual, repetitive tasks. Visit axonius.com/darknet to learn more and try it free. Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company's ransomware blast radius is? Varonis does a free cyber resilience assessment that tells you how many important files a compromised user could steal, whether anything would beep if they did, and a whole lot more. They actually do all the work – show you where your data is too open, if anyone is using it, and what you can lock down before attackers get inside. They also can detect behavior that looks like ransomware and stop it automatically. To learn more visit www.varonis.com/darknet. Support for this show comes from Akamai Connected Cloud (formerly Linode). Akamai Connected Cloud supplies you with virtual servers. Visit linode.com/darknet and get a special offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a special edition of the Southeast Asia Dispatches, the first of six episodes in the Pegasus series that we are co-producing together with KBR. Three episodes will be conducted in English, while three in Bahasa Indonesia, which you can find at Ruang Publik at KBRPrime.id. In 2022, iLaw, Digital Reach, and The Citizen Lab discovered a large-scale espionage campaign targeting pro-democracy demonstrators and activists calling for monarchy reform in Thailand. At least 30 people were infected with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. Thailand's parliament has so far failed to introduce regulation or countermeasures against the government's extensive and evolving surveillance powers, while government accountability mechanisms have weakened and attacks on civil society continue.  You can also find this podcast on our ⁠⁠website⁠⁠. Our movement needs your support. A movement is only as strong as its members. If you believe in a more democratic Southeast Asia, join New Naratif as a member ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

ChatGPT hallucinations cause turbulence in court, a riot in Wales may have been ignited on social media, and do you think .MOV is a good top-level domain for "a website that moves you"?All this and much much more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by computer security veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault, joined this week by Mark Stockley.Plus don't miss our featured interview with David Ahn of Centripetal.Warning: This podcast may contain nuts, adult themes, and rude language.Episode links:8 new top-level domains for dads, grads and techies - Google.Tweet by Citizen Lab's John Scott-Railton - Twitter.File Archiver in the browser - mr.d0x.A Lawyer's Filing "Is Replete with Citations to Non-Existent Cases" - Thanks, ChatGPT? - Reason.Ely riot: Live updates as police investigate CCTV showing police van following bike moments before fatal crash - Wales Online.Cardiff riot: Police force refers itself to watchdog as CCTV shows its van following e-bike before fatal crash - Sky News.Two boys killed in Cardiff crash which was followed by riot are named - Sky News.Cardiff riots: social media rumours about crash started unrest, says police commissioner - The Guardian.Black Butterflies - Netflix.Black Butterflies trailer - YouTube.“The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization” by Peter Zeihan - Amazon.Science Vs - Gimlet Media Podcast.Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)Sponsored by:Bitwarden – Password security you can trust. Bitwarden is an open source password manager trusted by millions of individuals, teams, and organizations worldwide for secure password storage and sharing.Kolide – Kolide ensures that if your device isn't secure it can't access your cloud...

A special bonus episode from one of our favorite podcasts, Click Here. Click Here is a podcast about the world of cyber and intelligence hosted by Dina Temple-Raston.  Click Here did a special episode about Pegasus spyware in Mexico: Classified documents and internal memos in a new report from digital activists in Mexico make clear the Mexican Army systematically deployed Pegasus spyware against local journalists and activists. R3D, a Mexican digital rights group, and University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, also discovered the existence of a formerly unknown military intelligence unit whose sole purpose appears to be secret surveillance and deployment of spyware.  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/click-here/id1225077306

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa believes online disinformation could pose an existential threat to democracy — and she's not alone. Ressa joins Citizen Lab founder Ron Deibert for a conversation about how online impunity is eroding civil society and how we can fight back.

We open this episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast with some actual news about the debate over renewing section 702 of FISA. That's the law that allows the government to target foreigners for a national security purpose and to intercept their communications in and out of the U.S. A lot of attention has been focused on what happens to those communications after they've been intercepted and stored, and particularly whether the FBI should get a second court authorization—maybe even a warrant based on probable cause—to search for records about an American. Michael J. Ellis reports that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released new data on such FBI searches. Turns out, they've dropped from almost 3 million last year to nearly 120 thousand this year. In large part the drop reflects the tougher restrictions imposed by the FBI on such searches. Those restrictions were also made public this week. It has also emerged that the government is using section 702 millions of times a year to identify the victims of cyberattacks (makes sense: foreign hackers are often a national security concern, and their whole business model is to use U.S. infrastructure to communicate [in a very special way] with U.S. networks.) So it turns out that all those civil libertarians who want to make it hard for the government to search 702 for the names of Americans are proposing ways to slow down and complicate the process of warning hacking victims. Thanks a bunch, folks! Justin Sherman covers China's push to attack and even take over enemy (U.S.) satellites. This story is apparently drawn from the Discord leaks, and it has the ring of truth. I opine that the Defense Department has gotten a little too comfortable waging war against people who don't really have an army, and that the Ukraine conflict shows how much tougher things get when there's an organized military on the other side. (Again, credit for our artwork goes to Bing Image Creator.) Adam Candeub flags the next Supreme Court case to nibble away at the problem of social media and the law. We can look forward to an argument next year about the constitutionality of public officials blocking people who post mean comments on the officials' Facebook pages.  Justin and I break down a story about whether Twitter is complying with more government demands under Elon Musk. The short answer is yes. This leads me to ask why we expect social media companies to spend large sums fighting government takedown and surveillance requests when it's much cheaper just to comply. So far, the answer has been that mainstream media and Good People Everywhere will criticize companies that don't fight. But with criticism of Elon Musk's Twitter already turned up to 11, that's not likely to persuade him. Adam and I are impressed by Citizen Labs' report on search censorship in China. We'd both kind of like to see Citizen Lab do the same thing for U.S. censorship, which somehow gets less transparency. If you suspect that's because there's more censorship than U.S. companies want to admit, here's a straw in the wind: Citizen Lab reports that the one American company still providing search services in China, Microsoft Bing, is actually more aggressive about stifling political speech than China's main search engine, Baidu. This fits with my discovery that Bing's Image Creator refused to construct an image using Taiwan's flag. (It was OK using U.S. and German flags, but not China's.) I also credit Microsoft for fixing that particular bit of overreach: You can now create images with both Taiwanese and Chinese flags.  Adam covers the EU's enthusiasm for regulating other countries' companies. It has designated 19 tech giants as subject to its online content rules. Of the 19, one is a European company, and two are Chinese (counting TikTok). The rest are American companies.  I cover a case that I think could be a big problem for the Biden administration as it ramps up its campaign for cybersecurity regulation. Iowa and a couple of other states are suing to block the Environmental Protection Agency's legally questionable effort to impose cybersecurity requirements on public water systems, using an “interpretation” of a law that doesn't say much about cybersecurity into a law that never had it before. Michael Ellis and I cover the story detailing a former NSA director's business ties to Saudi Arabia—and expand it to confess our unease at the number of generals and admirals moving from command of U.S. forces to a consulting gig with the countries they were just negotiating with. Recent restrictions on the revolving door for intelligence officers gets a mention. Adam covers the Quebec decision awarding $500 thousand to a man who couldn't get Google to consistently delete a false story portraying him as a pedophile and conman. Justin and I debate whether Meta's Reels feature has what it takes to be a plausible TikTok competitor? Justin is skeptical. I'm a little less so. Meta's claims about the success of Reels aren't entirely persuasive, but perhaps it's too early to tell. The D.C. Circuit has killed off the state antitrust case trying to undo Meta's long-ago acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram. The states waited too long, the court held. That doctrine doesn't apply the same way to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will get to pursue a lonely battle against long odds for years. If the FTC is going to keep sending its lawyers into battle like conscripts in Bakhmut, I ask, when will the commission start recruiting in Russian prisons? That was fast. Adam tells us that the Brazil court order banning on Telegram because it wouldn't turn over information on neo-Nazi groups has been overturned on appeal. But Telegram isn't out of the woods. The appeal court left in place fines of $200 thousand a day for noncompliance.    And in another regulatory walkback, Italy's privacy watchdog is letting ChatGPT back into the country. I suspect the Italian government of cutting a deal to save face as it abandons its initial position on ChatGPT's scraping of public data to train the model. Finally, in policies I wish they would walk back, four U.S. regulatory agencies claimed (plausibly) that they had authority to bring bias claims against companies using AI in a discriminatory fashion. Since I don't see any way to bring those claims without arguing that any deviation from proportional representation constitutes discrimination, this feels like a surreptitious introduction of quotas into several new parts of the economy, just as the Supreme Court seems poised to cast doubt on such quotas in higher education.  Download 455th Episode (mp3) You can subscribe to The Cyberlaw Podcast using iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or our RSS feed. As always, The Cyberlaw Podcast is open to feedback. Be sure to engage with @stewartbaker on Twitter. Send your questions, comments, and suggestions for topics or interviewees to CyberlawPodcast@gmail.com. Remember: If your suggested guest appears on the show, we will send you a highly coveted Cyberlaw Podcast mug! The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of their institutions, clients, friends, families, or pets.

We open this episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast with some actual news about the debate over renewing section 702 of FISA. That's the law that allows the government to target foreigners for a national security purpose and to intercept their communications in and out of the U.S. A lot of attention has been focused on what happens to those communications after they've been intercepted and stored, and particularly whether the FBI should get a second court authorization—maybe even a warrant based on probable cause—to search for records about an American. Michael J. Ellis reports that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released new data on such FBI searches. Turns out, they've dropped from almost 3 million last year to nearly 120 thousand this year. In large part the drop reflects the tougher restrictions imposed by the FBI on such searches. Those restrictions were also made public this week. It has also emerged that the government is using section 702 millions of times a year to identify the victims of cyberattacks (makes sense: foreign hackers are often a national security concern, and their whole business model is to use U.S. infrastructure to communicate [in a very special way] with U.S. networks.) So it turns out that all those civil libertarians who want to make it hard for the government to search 702 for the names of Americans are proposing ways to slow down and complicate the process of warning hacking victims. Thanks a bunch, folks! Justin Sherman covers China's push to attack and even take over enemy (U.S.) satellites. This story is apparently drawn from the Discord leaks, and it has the ring of truth. I opine that the Defense Department has gotten a little too comfortable waging war against people who don't really have an army, and that the Ukraine conflict shows how much tougher things get when there's an organized military on the other side. (Again, credit for our artwork goes to Bing Image Creator.) Adam Candeub flags the next Supreme Court case to nibble away at the problem of social media and the law. We can look forward to an argument next year about the constitutionality of public officials blocking people who post mean comments on the officials' Facebook pages.  Justin and I break down a story about whether Twitter is complying with more government demands under Elon Musk. The short answer is yes. This leads me to ask why we expect social media companies to spend large sums fighting government takedown and surveillance requests when it's much cheaper just to comply. So far, the answer has been that mainstream media and Good People Everywhere will criticize companies that don't fight. But with criticism of Elon Musk's Twitter already turned up to 11, that's not likely to persuade him. Adam and I are impressed by Citizen Labs' report on search censorship in China. We'd both kind of like to see Citizen Lab do the same thing for U.S. censorship, which somehow gets less transparency. If you suspect that's because there's more censorship than U.S. companies want to admit, here's a straw in the wind: Citizen Lab reports that the one American company still providing search services in China, Microsoft Bing, is actually more aggressive about stifling political speech than China's main search engine, Baidu. This fits with my discovery that Bing's Image Creator refused to construct an image using Taiwan's flag. (It was OK using U.S. and German flags, but not China's.) I also credit Microsoft for fixing that particular bit of overreach: You can now create images with both Taiwanese and Chinese flags.  Adam covers the EU's enthusiasm for regulating other countries' companies. It has designated 19 tech giants as subject to its online content rules. Of the 19, one is a European company, and two are Chinese (counting TikTok). The rest are American companies.  I cover a case that I think could be a big problem for the Biden administration as it ramps up its campaign for cybersecurity regulation. Iowa and a couple of other states are suing to block the Environmental Protection Agency's legally questionable effort to impose cybersecurity requirements on public water systems, using an “interpretation” of a law that doesn't say much about cybersecurity into a law that never had it before. Michael Ellis and I cover the story detailing a former NSA director's business ties to Saudi Arabia—and expand it to confess our unease at the number of generals and admirals moving from command of U.S. forces to a consulting gig with the countries they were just negotiating with. Recent restrictions on the revolving door for intelligence officers gets a mention. Adam covers the Quebec decision awarding $500 thousand to a man who couldn't get Google to consistently delete a false story portraying him as a pedophile and conman. Justin and I debate whether Meta's Reels feature has what it takes to be a plausible TikTok competitor? Justin is skeptical. I'm a little less so. Meta's claims about the success of Reels aren't entirely persuasive, but perhaps it's too early to tell. The D.C. Circuit has killed off the state antitrust case trying to undo Meta's long-ago acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram. The states waited too long, the court held. That doctrine doesn't apply the same way to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will get to pursue a lonely battle against long odds for years. If the FTC is going to keep sending its lawyers into battle like conscripts in Bakhmut, I ask, when will the commission start recruiting in Russian prisons? That was fast. Adam tells us that the Brazil court order banning on Telegram because it wouldn't turn over information on neo-Nazi groups has been overturned on appeal. But Telegram isn't out of the woods. The appeal court left in place fines of $200 thousand a day for noncompliance.    And in another regulatory walkback, Italy's privacy watchdog is letting ChatGPT back into the country. I suspect the Italian government of cutting a deal to save face as it abandons its initial position on ChatGPT's scraping of public data to train the model. Finally, in policies I wish they would walk back, four U.S. regulatory agencies claimed (plausibly) that they had authority to bring bias claims against companies using AI in a discriminatory fashion. Since I don't see any way to bring those claims without arguing that any deviation from proportional representation constitutes discrimination, this feels like a surreptitious introduction of quotas into several new parts of the economy, just as the Supreme Court seems poised to cast doubt on such quotas in higher education.  Download 455th Episode (mp3) You can subscribe to The Cyberlaw Podcast using iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or our RSS feed. As always, The Cyberlaw Podcast is open to feedback. Be sure to engage with @stewartbaker on Twitter. Send your questions, comments, and suggestions for topics or interviewees to CyberlawPodcast@gmail.com. Remember: If your suggested guest appears on the show, we will send you a highly coveted Cyberlaw Podcast mug! The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of their institutions, clients, friends, families, or pets.

The problem in both cases is not Zuckerberg or Musk, but the idea of a Zuckerberg or Musk. The idea that, simply by virtue of owning and controlling a particular technology, someone wields arbitrary or unaccountable power which can touch every aspect of our liberty and our democracy.Jamie SusskindAccess Bonus Episodes on PatreonMake a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox.Jamie Susskind is an author and barrister. He has held fellowships at Cambridge and Harvard Universities. His work is at the crossroads of technology, politics, and law. His most recent book is The Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the 21st Century.Key HighlightsIntroduction - 0:44Challenges of Digital Technology - 3:18Artificial Intelligence - 20:09A Digital Republic - 40:27Possible Solutions - 43:42Key LinksThe Digital Republic: On Freedom and Democracy in the 21st Century by Jamie SusskindFollow Jamie Susskind on Twitter @jamiesusskindLearn more about Jamie SusskindDemocracy Paradox PodcastSamuel Woolley on Bots, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital PropagandaRonald Deibert from Citizen Lab on Cyber Surveillance, Digital Subversion, and Transnational RepressionMore Episodes from the PodcastMore InformationDemocracy GroupApes of the State created all MusicEmail the show at jkempf@democracyparadox.comFollow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast100 Books on DemocracyDemocracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.Support the show

Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder and Pegasus Spyware continues with its eighth episode, a special interview with acclaimed journalist Carlos Dada about the intense targeting of him and his newsroom, El Faro, in El Salvador.  El Faro is no stranger to threats and intimidation - which has increased under the administration of President Nayib Bukele. Pegasus was used to spy on Carlos Dada for more than a 100 days in a row. Between June 2020 to November 2021, more than 20 members of El Faro were infected with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. John Scott-Railton of Citizen Lab worked to identify the El Faro breach — this was one of the most obsessive cases of spying Citizen Lab has ever seen. Shoot the Messenger is hosted by Rose Reid and Nando Vila and is a production of Exile Content Studio. Guests: Carlos Dada and John Scott-Railton

Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder and Pegasus Spyware continues with its seventh episode, revealing a pattern of Pegasus as a bargaining chip for foreign relations. Over the past decade, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - there is a direct correlation between his travels, his meet and greets with world leaders…and the proliferation of Pegasus spyware. Where Netanyahu goes, Pegasus seems to follow. As Netanyahu asserts his control over a divisive Israel, should we expect to see an increase in the scope of NSO Group's capabilities in digital surveillance? This industry has boomed during Netanyahu's tenure - and he has famously said, "Don't over-regulate." Shoot the Messenger is hosted by Rose Reid and Nando Vila and is a production of Exile Content Studio. Guests: Keshet's Amitai Ziv; Financial Times' Mehul Srivastava; Citizen Lab's Scott Stedman

One of the things that we see happening online is sort of a democratization of propaganda.Samuel WoolleyBecome a Patron!Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox.A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.Samuel Woolley is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and the project director for propaganda research at the Center for Media Engagement. His most recent book is Manufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity.Key HighlightsIntroduction - 0:43Background on Technology (including Bots) - 3:00Artificial Intelligence - 10:17Democratization of Propaganda - 20:44The Legitimation of Ideas - 30:48Key LinksManufacturing Consensus: Understanding Propaganda in the Era of Automation and Anonymity by Samuel Woolley"Digital Propaganda: The Power of Influencers" in the Journal of Democracy by Samuel WoolleyCenter for Media EngagementDemocracy Paradox PodcastRichard Wike Asked Citizens in 19 Countries Whether Social Media is Good for DemocracyRonald Deibert from Citizen Lab on Cyber Surveillance, Digital Subversion, and Transnational RepressionMore Episodes from the PodcastMore InformationDemocracy GroupApes of the State created all MusicEmail the show at jkempf@democracyparadox.comFollow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast100 Books on DemocracyDemocracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.Support the show

A new report has published classified documents and internal memos that make clear the Mexican Army bought Pegasus spyware and systematically deployed it against journalists and activists in Mexico. R3D, a Mexican digital rights group, and University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, also found evidence of a formerly unknown military intelligence unit whose sole focus appears to be secret surveillance and deployment of spyware. Some of the sensitive material published in the report came from a massive hack into the Ministry of Defense by the hacktivist group Guacamaya last year. Click Here was part of a small group of journalists given early access to their findings.

On this episode of the podcast, we sit down with Ron Deibert, who runs the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, to discuss the “mercenary spyware” industry - and its proclivity for providing “almost god-like” spyware programs to governments who've been proven to use them to surveil “opposition politicians, human rights activists, journalists, academics, embassy workers, and political dissidents.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When people think about social media, they think about the upsides of it. It speaks to what they want in democracy that they're not getting. They feel disconnected, voiceless, and not empowered. So, if there's ways that social media can play a role in empowering people and giving them a voice and holding accountable leaders that they don't think listen to them, those are upsides and that's some of the reasons why you get more positive evaluations of social media than we might think.Richard WikeBecome a Patron!Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox.A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.Richard Wike is director of global attitudes research at Pew Research Center. He conducts research and writes about international public opinion on a variety of topics, such as America's global image, the rise of China, democracy, and globalization. His latest report (coauthored with Laura Silver, Janell Fetterolf, Christine Huang, Sarah Austin, Laura Clancy and Sneha Gubbala) is   "Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier."Key HighlightsIntroduction - 0:47Role of Survey Research - 2:47Views on Social Media and Democracy - 5:27Differences by Age - 16:35Social Media Engagement - 24:23 Key Links"Social Media Seen as Mostly Good for Democracy Across Many Nations, But U.S. is a Major Outlier" by Richard Wike, Laura Silver, Janell Fetterolf, Christine Huang, Sarah Austin, Laura Clancy and Sneha Gubbala"Liberal Democracy's Crisis of Confidence" by Richard Wike and Janell Fetterolf in the Journal of DemocracyLearn more about Richard Wike at the Pew Research CenterDemocracy Paradox PodcastAllie Funk of Freedom House Assesses Global Internet FreedomRonald Deibert from Citizen Lab on Cyber Surveillance, Digital Subversion, and Transnational RepressionMore Episodes from the PodcastMore InformationDemocracy GroupApes of the State created all MusicEmail the show at jkempf@democracyparadox.comFollow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast100 Books on DemocracyDemocracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.Support the show