Security News
The White House has weighed in on the Section 702 debate, urging lawmakers to reauthorize, "Without new and operationally damaging restrictions," the controversial snooping powers before they expire at the end of the year. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the American government to monitor electronic communications of foreign persons outside of the United States [PDF], and people they confer with, including US persons.
Nearly all of the FBI's technical intelligence on malicious "Cyber actors" in the first half of this year was obtained via Section 702 searches, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. With the controversial FISA amendment set to expire at the end of the year, unless Congress reauthorizes the snooping clause, Wray has been making the rounds and delivering the same message: the FBI "Cannot afford to lose" Section 702.
French police should be able to spy on suspects by remotely activating the camera, microphone and GPS of their phones and other devices, lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday, July 5. Covering laptops, cars and other connected objects as well as phones, the measure would allow the geolocation of suspects in crimes punishable by at least five years' jail.
Roid-based phone monitoring app LetMeSpy has disclosed a security breach that allowed an unauthorized third-party to steal sensitive data associated with thousands of Android users. "As a result of the attack, the criminals gained access to email addresses, telephone numbers and the content of messages collected on accounts," LetMeSpy said in an announcement on its website, noting the incident took place on June 21, 2023.
Apple has joined the rapidly growing chorus of tech organizations calling on British lawmakers to revise the nation's Online Safety Bill - which for now is in the hands of the House of Lords - so that it safeguards strong end-to-end encryption. "It also helps everyday citizens defend themselves from surveillance, identity theft, fraud, and data breaches. The Online Safety Bill poses a serious threat to this protection, and could put UK citizens at greater risk."
The FBI doesn't want to lose its favorite codified way to spy, Section 702 of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In its latest salvo, the agency's deputy director Paul Abbate called it "Absolutely critical for the FBI to continue protecting the American people."
Russian intelligence has accused American snoops and Apple of working together to backdoor iPhones to spy on "Thousands" of diplomats worldwide. A Kaspersky spokesperson told The Register it's aware of the FSB claims, but can't say if the two things - Uncle Sam backdooring iPhones, and the spyware found on several Kaspersky devices - are linked.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned today of a high-severity Android vulnerability believed to have been exploited by a Chinese e-commerce app Pinduoduo as a zero-day to spy on its users. "Android Framework contains an unspecified vulnerability that allows for privilege escalation after updating an app to a higher Target SDK with no additional execution privileges needed," CISA explains.
The outgoing president of the Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, penned a lengthy letter last week accusing Beijing of rampant bribery, spying and other tactics - including an attempt to take control of the nation's submarine cables and telecoms infrastructure. In the letter, Panuelo claimed that the People's Republic of China has instructed its army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
A never-before-seen complex malware is targeting business-grade routers to covertly spy on victims in Latin America, Europe, and North America at least since July 2022. Given that the impacted devices are high-bandwidth routers that can simultaneously support hundreds of VPN connections, it's being suspected that the goal is to spy on targets and establish a stealthy proxy network.