Security News > 2021 > December > Facebook Bans 7 'Cyber Mercenary' Companies for Spying on 50,000 Users

Meta Platforms on Thursday revealed it took steps to deplatform seven cyber mercenaries that it said carried out "Indiscriminate" targeting of journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition, and human rights activists located in over 100 countries, amid mounting scrutiny of surveillance technologies.

To that end, the company said it alerted 50,000 users of Facebook and Instagram that their accounts were spied on by the companies, who offer a variety of services that run the spyware gamut from hacking tools for infiltrating mobile phones to creating fake social media accounts to monitor targets.

The companies operated a vast network of tools and fictitious personas to profile their targets, establish contact using social engineering tactics and, ultimately, deliver malicious software through phishing campaigns and other techniques that allowed them to access or take control of the devices.

"These companies are part of a sprawling industry that provides intrusive software tools and surveillance services indiscriminately to any customer."

In a related development, the U.S. Treasury Department added eight more Chinese companies - drone maker DJI Technology, Megvii, and Yitu Limited, among others - to an investment blacklist for "Actively cooperating with the [Chinese] government's efforts to repress members of ethnic and religious minority groups," including Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang province.

Meta's sweeping crackdown also comes close on the heels of a detailed technical analysis of FORCEDENTRY, the now-patched zero-click iMessage exploit put to use by the embattled Israeli company NSO Group to surveil journalists, activists and dissidents around the world.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2021/12/facebook-bans-7-cyber-mercenaries.html