Security News
Vice has an article about how data brokers sell access to the Internet backbone. It's useful for cybersecurity forensics, but can also be used for things like tracing VPN activity.
The China-based surveillance equipment manufacturer accused of being linked to the human rights abuse of the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang has denied any wrongdoing in a heated exchange with the UK's Surveillance Camera Commissioner. Eye-catchingly, Hikvision's denials came in a series of letters published by Surveillance Camera Commissioner Professor Fraser Sampson on the GOV.UK website.
Operated by Chinese smart device company ThroughTek, Kalay is pitched as a cloud-based solution for vendors of home automation devices, including security cameras, smart locks, video doorphones, smart power plugs, and even personal cloud storage hardware such as NAS devices. As you can see, the idea is that instead of creating their own protocol, setting up their own servers and building their own home automation service, home device makers can build the Kalay software into their own firmware, and use the existing Kalay network so their customers can manage and access the devices.
The United Nations has called for a moratorium on the sale of "Life threatening" surveillance technology and singled out the NSO Group and Israel for criticism. The UN announcement then zeroes in on NSO Group, calling on it to "Disclose whether or not it ever conducted any meaningful human rights due diligence in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and publish fully the findings of any internal probes it may have undertaken on this issue".
An unauthenticated OS command injection vulnerability in the Sunhillo SureLine application could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges, according to security researchers with the NCC Group. Sunhillo is an established name in aerial vehicle surveillance and tracking, and SureLine represents the core software that powers the company's surveillance tools and products.
Allegations that governments used phone malware supplied by an Israeli firm to spy on journalists, activists and heads of state have "Exposed a global human rights crisis," Amnesty International said, asking for a moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance technology. In a Friday statement, the NGO warned of "The devastating impact of the poorly regulated spyware industry on human rights worldwide."
AnyVision announced the availability of OnPatrol, a tactical surveillance mobile application that protects law enforcement and military personnel by recognizing persons of interest and alerting officers in real-time via their mobile device. "Public trust in the safety and security provided by law enforcement agencies is of paramount importance. AnyVision OnPatrol can help de-escalate potential threats and prevent physical harm by identifying criminals and dangerous individuals in real-time through our Recognition AI technology," said Dieter Joecker, AnyVision's CTO. "It is designed specifically to recognize and check individual faces against a designated watchlist - even when people are in motion, captured in poor lighting, or partially obscured by surrounding people."
Spectra Logic announced a partnership with StorMagic, a company that simplifies storage and security from the edge to the core, to deliver a complete end-to-end active archive for video surveillance and digital evidence management. The joint storage solution combines StorMagic's ARQvault, the first active intelligent repository to manage and retrieve digital assets using powerful analytics, and Spectra Logic's BlackPearlNAS system and enterprise-class tape libraries to protect large amounts of data in multiple locations for as long as needed.
L3Harris Technologies with a team of leading international defense and technology companies, is developing surveillance concepts for NATO to replace the organization's aging Airborne Warning and Control System fleet by 2035. The team is developing "System of systems" options for surveillance and control capabilities for NATO's Alliance Future Surveillance and Control program.
In the following chapters, we describe various aspects of these challenges and point out how today's dominant model of online advertising is a threat to consumers, democratic societies, the media, and even to advertisers themselves. A ban on surveillance-based practices should be complemented by stronger enforcement of existing legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation, competition regulation, and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.