https://t.co/CMBBLTNlWp – #News #Times #NewsAndTimes #NT #TNT #Israel #World #USA #POTUS #DOJ #FBI #CIA #DIA #ODNI #Mossad #Netanyahu #Putin #Russia #GRU #Ukraine #SouthCaucasus #NewAbwehr #Bloggers #PoliticalPersonology #PoliticalCriminology #Counterintelligence… pic.twitter.com/cus6Dm2QcF
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 19, 2024
Day: January 19, 2024
Citizen Lab: Spyware by Israel’s Candiru used to target activists https://t.co/hMeZie0fEL pic.twitter.com/hLBmDKIjJc
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 19, 2024
Citizen Lab: Spyware by Israel’s Candiru used to target activists https://t.co/G0rSJQ2MGO via @AJEnglish
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 19, 2024
At least 100 activists, journalists and government dissidents across 10 countries were targeted with spyware produced by an Israeli company called Candiru, according to cybersecurity researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, which tracks illegal hacking and surveillance.
Using a pair of vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.’s Windows, cyber operatives operating in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Hungary, Indonesia and elsewhere purchased and installed remote spying software made by Candiru, according to the researchers. The tool was used in “precision attacks” against targets’ computers, phones, network infrastructure and internet-connected devices,” said Cristin Goodwin, general manager of Microsoft’s Digital Security Unit.
list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4list 2 of 4list 3 of 4list 4 of 4end of list
Microsoft was alerted to these attacks by researchers at Citizen Lab, and after weeks of analysis, the company released patches on July 13 for a pair of Windows vulnerabilities believed to be the point of entry for the spyware, according to a Microsoft blog published Thursday. Microsoft doesn’t name Candiru but instead refers to an “Israel-based private sector offensive actor” it calls Sourgum.
Candiru didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Candiru is the name of an eel-like fish native to the Amazon River region that allegedly enters the urethra of humans before deploying short spines – a story some have dismissed as a myth.
The users of the spyware also hacked politicians and human rights activists, according to the researchers, who declined to name the victims.
The Citizen Lab researchers said the Candiru spyware is part of a thriving private industry selling technology to governments and authoritarian leaders so they can gain access to the communications of private citizens and political opposition. Another Israeli company, NSO Group Ltd., has been accused of providing spyware to repressive governments that have used it to snoop on journalists and activists.
NSO has maintained that it sells its technology exclusively to governments and law enforcement as a tool against terrorism and crime. In a report published on June 30, NSO Group said it refuses to sell spyware to 55 countries and has taken steps to curb misuse by customers.
John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at Citizen Lab, said the Candiru research “shows there’s a whole ecosystem selling to authoritarian regimes.”
“Tools like Candiru are used to export fear,” he added.
Citizen Lab’s findings also offered some fresh insight into the cost of doing business in the spyware industry.
For 16 million euros ($18.9 million), Candiru’s clients can attempt to compromise an unlimited number of devices but are limited to actively tracking only 10 at a time, according to Citizen Lab. For an extra 1.5 million euro ($1.8 million), buyers can monitor an additional 15 victims.
Candiru has clients in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Local news organizations have reported contracts in Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Qatar, according to Citizen Lab’s report.
Candiru’s clients are restricted to operating only in “agreed upon territories,” according to Citizen Lab. The company’s clients sign contracts that limit operations outside the U.S., Russia, China, Israel and Iran, according to the report. But Microsoft said it has recently discovered activity with the spyware in Iran, suggesting the rules aren’t concrete, according to the report.
@mikenov: Forensic exam of the Weiner’s Laptop: It was requested by the FBI in 2016 but it remains unclear if it was performed, how it was performed, by whom, and what are the results of it. Were there any signs of the cyber intrusion and the unauthorized cyber insertion of about… pic.twitter.com/eCQ33ATu2f
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 19, 2024
WASHINGTON — Adolf Hitler’s top intelligence officials worked with U.S. intelligence during World War II, according to a transcript made available Tuesday of secret testimony by Allen Dulles before a House committee in 1947.
The Nazi officials provided information about Germany’s missile program that led to the allied bombing of the bases from which the Germans launched rockets against Britain, Dulles told the committee.
Dulles testified June 27, 1947, at a hearing by the House Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments that laid the basis for establishment later that year of the Central Intelligence Agency. Dulles became CIA director.
The House Government Operations Committee, successor to the expenditures committee, voted unanimously Tuesday to release the transcript.
Dulles, identified in the transcript as ‘Mr. B,’ was a key figure during World War II in the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA.
The transcript of his testimony confirmed previous disclosures over the years on how U.S. intelligence had penetrated key Nazi organizations.
Dulles said about 10 percent of the Abwehr, the German central intelligence agency operating under the joint chiefs of staff, turned against Hitler because they were ‘disgusted with Hitler’s tactics’ and opposed his ‘treatment of the Russians.’
‘I had a certain measure of success in penetrating the German intelligence service, the German Foreign Office, and certain other of the German agencies,’ he testified.
While he was OSS chief operating out of neutral Switzerland, top German counterintelligence officials like Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, who headed the Abwehr, and Canaris’ deputy were in direct touch with him, Dulles told the committee.
They and others, including two agents attached to the German Consulate at Zurich, ‘furnished information to me of a very valuable nature,’ Dulles said.
‘I think we received some of the first information we had about the German development of the guided missile, and some of the first clues that led us to the bombing of Peenemuende and things of that kind from men in the German Intelligence Service working for us,’ Dulles said.
Peenemuende was the German missile construction base on the Baltic coast where scientists like Wernher von Braun, who later worked for the U.S. space program, developed the devastating V-1 and V-2 rockets launched against England from coastal bases in occupied France.
After the location of the bases became known, the Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Corps bombed them repeatedly.
Asked whether it was not true that Canaris was in fact his agent, Dulles replied: ‘That is going a little far.’
But Dulles said, ‘I had working with me several of the men in Canaris’ organization and I was in direct touch with Canaris, especially with General Oster, who was chief of staff and in charge of his intelligence.’
‘About 10 percent of the Abwehr became anti-Nazi,’ Dulles said. ‘They became disgusted with Hitler’s tactics and they opposed Hitler’s activities against the Russians and his treatment of the Russians and, as a result, it was possible to penetrate the Abwehr.’
Dulles told the committee the top five officials of the German intelligence agency, including Canaris and Oster, ‘were all executed as traitors.’
‘There was a good reason for that?’ a congressman asked.
‘Yes, they were traitors in the German sense. There is no doubt. Two of the men worked with me,’ Dulles replied.
- Subject
- Arts and Humanities
- Browse content in Arts and Humanities
- Archaeology
- Architecture
- Art
- Biographical Studies
- Byzantine Studies
- Classical Studies
- Digital Humanities
- Egyptology
- History
- Journalism
- Language Teaching and Learning
- Linguistics
- Literature
- Media Studies
- Music
- Performing Arts
- Philosophy
- Publishing
- Religion
- Society and Culture
- Visual Culture
- Law
- Medicine and Health
- Science and Mathematics
- Social Sciences
- Browse content in Social Sciences
- Anthropology
- Business and Management
- Criminology and Criminal Justice
- Development Studies
- Economics
- Education
- Environment
- Human Geography
- Interdisciplinary Studies
- Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
- Politics
- Regional and Area Studies
- Research and Information
- Social Work
- Sociology
- Warfare and Defence
- Arts and Humanities
- Journals
- Books
#Netanyahu rebuffs US calls to start working toward Palestinian statehood.
Netanyahu says that Israel must have total “control over all the territory” & warns that the bombing will continue till 2025. US must stop funding Israel. It’s turned into a slaughter.#StopFundingIsrael
— Arctic Friend (@FriendEden100) January 19, 2024