Intelligence agencies hack smartphones

[waltky]

Intelligence agencies hack into people's smartphones...

Snowden: Smartphones Can Be Hacked By Intelligence Agencies With A Single Text Message
Oct 07, 2015 | "[They send] a specially crafted message that's texted to your number like any other text message, but when it arrives at your phone, it's hidden from you," Snowden said.

Intelligence agencies in the United States and United Kingdom can gain total control over anyone's smartphone by sending it a single text message, according to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Snowden told BBC in a new interview that the NSA has provided British security agency GCHQ with a sophisticated tool dubbed "Smurf Suite," which allows the agency to take over a smartphone by sending it an encrypted text message. And there is "very little" that a user can do to stop the agency from hijacking the device, he said, noting that the program itself cost $1 billion in the U.S. "[They send] a specially crafted message that's texted to your number like any other text message, but when it arrives at your phone, it's hidden from you. It doesn't display. You paid for it, but whoever controls the software owns the phone. They want to own your phone instead of you," Snowden told BBC's investigative show Panorama.

Agencies can then access practically any function of the phone, allowing them to read text messages, call logs, browse web history, contact lists, geo-locations, wireless networks, and even take covert photos without the owner of the phone ever knowing. Snowden went on to explain the various tools in the suite: "Dreamy Smurf is the power management tool which means turning your phone on and off with you knowing. Nosey Smurf is the 'hot mic' tool. For example if it's in your pocket, [GCHQ] can turn the microphone on and listen to everything that's going on around you - even if your phone is switched off because they've got the other tools for turning it on. Tracker Smurf is a geo-location tool which allows [GCHQ] to follow you with a greater precision than you would get from the typical triangulation of cellphone towers."

And then there is Paranoid Smurf, "a self-protection tool that's used hide the manipulation of your phone." "For example," Snowden said, "if you wanted to take the phone in to get it serviced because you saw something strange going on or you suspected something was wrong, it makes it much more difficult for any technician to realize that anything's gone amiss." Snowden described GCHQ as, for all intents and purposes, "a subsidiary of the NSA." "They [the NSA] provide technology, they provide tasking and direction as to what they [GCHQ] should go after," he said.

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[defcon4]

I consider myself quite insignificant in the eyes NSA and such. Just an average Joe with an average phone yet, I noticed that my phone comes to life randomly with no apparent reason. Then weeks go by without happening and then it happens again. I suspected that some program was accessing my phone but thought it was the carrier or the manufacturer or Google.... Maybe it was...maybe not..interesting.

 

[waltky]

Mexico tells a whopper...

Spyware to Tap Into Smartphones Puts Users’ Rights at Risk
June 24, 2017 — Governments around the world are using surveillance software that taps into individual smartphones, taking screenshots, reading email and tracking users’ movements, according to security experts and civil liberties groups.

The rise of so-called spyware comes as electronic communications have become more encrypted, frustrating law enforcement and governments’ surveillance efforts. Over the past several years, private companies have begun selling advanced software that first appears as a text message with a link. When a person clicks on the link, the phone becomes infected. A third party can then read emails, take data and listen to audio, as well as track users’ movements.

Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui checks her phone during a press conference in Mexico City, June 19, 2017. An internet watchdog has found that Mexican journalists, lawyers and activists were targeted by Israeli-produced spyware that is sold exclusively to governments.​

The companies that sell this spyware exclusively to government agencies insist that the software must be used only in a legal manner, to fight crime and terrorism. However, security researchers and civil liberties groups contend that some governments use the programs to track human rights activists, journalists and others. A recent story in The New York Times focused on activists and journalists in Mexico who have received text messages and emails with links that, if clicked on, would infect their devices with spyware. In some cases, the messages appeared to come from legitimate sources, such as the U.S. Embassy. The Mexican government says it does not target activists, journalists and others with spyware unless it has “prior judicial authorization.”

‘Lawful intercept’

In recent years, there’s been a rise in software sales in what is known as the “lawful intercept” market, said Mike Murray, vice president of security intelligence at Lookout, a mobile security company based in San Francisco, California. Countries that can’t make their own surveillance software can now buy sophisticated surveillance tools, Murray said. “What’s new is the enthusiasm [from] nation-states. ... It’s a capability they always wished they had. Now they have it,” he added. Lookout, which makes security software and services, receives monthly information from more than 100 million phones in 150 countries. It has seen spyware “in every kind of contentious place around the world,” Murray said.

Nation-state use

The use of nation-state spyware used to be limited to a handful of governments, said Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights group. But now that the price of the spyware has come down, countries can spend a few hundred thousand dollars to get the same capability. Galperin spent three weeks in Mexico last year training activists. One tip she gives: Users who are not certain that a link in email or a text message is safe should forward it to a separate account, such as Google’s Gmail or Google Docs, to prevent infection. “We should be very concerned,” Galperin said. “Surveillance malware is incredibly powerful. You have full control of the machine. You can see everything the user can see, and do everything the user can do.”

Spyware to Tap Into Smartphones Puts Users’ Rights at Risk

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Activists, Journalists in Mexico Complain of Government Spying
June 19, 2017 — Activists, human-rights lawyers and journalists in Mexico filed a criminal complaint on Monday following a report that their smartphones had been infected with spying software sold to the government to fight criminals and terrorists.

The complaint to the attorney general's office by nine people followed a report by the New York Times that some of them had been spied on with software known as Pegasus, which Israeli company NSO Group sold to Mexico's government. Citing a report by a research group that investigated the alleged spying, the complaint says the attorney general's office and the defense ministry were among government organizations that purchased the software. Those claiming to be targeted by the software included Carmen Aristegui, a journalist who in 2014 helped reveal that President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife had acquired a house from a major government contractor, as well as Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist at leading television network Televisa.

Others included in the complaint were anti-corruption activists and lawyers representing the families of 43 trainee teachers whose disappearance and apparent massacre in 2014 created a huge public relations headache for Pena Nieto. Daniel Millan, a spokesman for Pena Nieto's office, issued a statement saying that there was no proof the Mexican government was responsible for the spying described in the New York Times story. "We condemn any attempt to violate the right to privacy of any person," the statement said.

A Reuters report in 2015 showed government surveillance requests were gathering speed in Mexico, raising concerns about a lack of oversight in a country plagued by corruption and collusion between security forces and criminal gangs. Mexico's government purchased about $80 million worth of spyware from NSO Group on condition it would only be used to investigate criminals and terrorists, the Times said.

Activists, Journalists in Mexico Complain of Government Spying

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Kidnapped Journalist Found Dead in Mexico
June 26, 2017 - The charred remains of a missing reporter have been found in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, bringing to seven the number of journalists murdered in that country this year.

Salvador Adame, director of the local television station 6TV, was abducted May 18 in the city of Nueva Italia, 400 kilometers west of Mexico City. State officials said Monday that Adame's burned remains were found in mid-June and were identified with DNA testing. Adame's abduction came after prominent journalist Javier Valdez was pulled out of his car and killed in broad daylight in Culiacan, in Mexico's Sinaloa state.

Frida Ortiz, wife of reporter Salvador Adame, speaks to the media during a protest against the May 18 disappearance of Adame, outside the offices of the Attorney General of the Republic in Mexico City​

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says 40 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 for reasons confirmed as related to their work. An additional 50 were slain during the same period under circumstances that have not been clarified.

At least four of the reporters killed this year were murdered in direct retaliation for their work, according to the CPJ, making Mexico the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere for media workers. On Monday, federal prosecutors in Mexico said they would ask for help from the FBI and other international groups in investigating reports of high-tech spying against journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico.

Kidnapped Journalist Found Dead in Mexico