"We're like a ghost"

[Teacher]

The redevelopment of the market for suppliers of spyware and other mass surveillance technologies continues, with the United States increasingly taking control and dominating the market.

This time, the Canadian company Sandvine came under the sanctions press of the US Department of Commerce, which was caused by a contract with the Egyptian authorities.

An official press release claims that Sandvine's network equipment was used to monitor and censor Internet traffic in Egypt and conduct attacks on local politicians and human rights defenders.

Sandvine Canada and five of its subsidiaries have been added to the Commerce Department's BIS list, which prohibits individuals from selling Sandvine technologies without a U.S. government license.

Thus, Sandvine becomes the fifth supplier of commercial surveillance and espionage software included in this list, along with the well-known Candiru, NSO Group, Intellexa and Cytrox, who were sanctioned in 2021 and 2023.

Sandvine was founded in 2001 and is known for its network traffic analysis solutions, enabling network congestion elimination and deep packet inspection.

The company's problems began to arise in the late 2010s, when human rights groups and researchers began to accuse the company of collaborating with advocates of democracy.

In its 2020 report, Bloomberg reported that Sandvine equipment is involved in Internet censorship in 15 countries-Algeria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Eritrea, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

In addition, according to a report by CitizenLab last September, Sandvine's capabilities were used to deliver Predator spyware to the phone of Ahmed Eltantawi, a member of Parliament who participated in the presidential campaign.

Moreover, according to CitizenLab, this method of implementation through Sandvine was similar to the 2018 incident in Turkey for delivering spyware to hundreds of users.

Increased pressure also contributed to the fact that she had to leave Belarus in 2020 after reports that Sandvine equipment was used during the election campaign.

Later in 2023, it was squeezed out of the US market.

It is likely that the trade restrictions on Sandvine are implemented by analogy with CE Sandvine, which uses technologies and specialists in the United States for a long time, but works under a new brand and new curators, and most importantly with a new order portfolio.

 

[Teacher]

All the dirty secrets of the Israeli Pegasus will soon be revealed.

In a court case that caused a significant public outcry, a US court ordered NSO Group, known as the manufacturer of one of the most powerful cyber weapons in the world — the Pegasus spyware, to transfer the code of this particular program, as well as other products for tracking the company's WhatsApp chats.

The court ruling was an important victory for WhatsApp, the Meta * - owned messaging app that has been taking legal action against the NSO since 2019. The lawsuit was filed after it was revealed that the company's spyware was used against 1,400 WhatsApp users for two weeks, leaking their personal correspondence to the attackers servers.

NSO Group, which is closely controlled by the Israeli Defense Ministry, sells its products to foreign governments after a thorough review. Judge Phyllis Hamilton's decision was made despite the NSO's request to release her from all reporting obligations due to "various restrictions imposed by the United States and Israel."

As a result, NSO will have to provide WhatsApp with all relevant surveillance programs for the year before and after the specified two-week period, as well as information about the full functionality of the corresponding spyware. However, the judge ruled in favor of NSO on another issue: the company will not be required to disclose the names of its customers or information about its server architecture at this time.

The court's decision marks a significant milestone in WhatsApp's long-term goal of protecting its users from illegal attacks. The WhatsApp representative stressed the importance of understanding for spy companies and other attackers that they can be caught and will not be able to ignore the law. NSO Group declined to comment on the court's decision, and the trial itself is ongoing.

NSO's Pegasus can hack mobile phones, gaining unlimited access to calls, emails, photos, location information, and encrypted messages without the user's knowledge. In 2021, the Biden administration blacklisted NSO, saying that the actions of the Israeli manufacturer of spyware were contrary to US foreign policy and national security.

The NSO sells its spyware to government clients around the world, claiming that agencies using it are responsible for how it is used.

Although NSO does not disclose the names of its clients, research and media reports over the years have identified Poland, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, India, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates among the countries that have used the technology to target dissidents, journalists, human rights defenders, and other civil society actors.

The Biden administration has expressed concern about the proliferation and misuse of products like Pegasus, pointing to a potential threat to U.S. national security and counterintelligence efforts. In early February, a new policy was even introduced, providing for the introduction of global visa restrictions for individuals involved in the misuse of commercial spyware, including EU countries and Israel.

• Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technol...eillance-code-whatsapp-meta-lawsuit-nso-group

 

[Man]

Paragon Spyware Successfully Legalized in the U.S.

According to Wired, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has signed a $2 million contract with Paragon Solutions, an Israeli company that specializes in spyware. The one-year contract, signed on September 27, includes a "fully configured proprietary solution, including licenses, equipment, warranty, maintenance and training".

Paragon received an order under FAR 6.302-1 (part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation), designed for unique and innovative services not otherwise available to the government.

As noted, this is not Paragon's first contract with US government agencies. In December 2022, The New York Times reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) used a company product called "Graphite" for its own purposes, a spyware capable of extracting data from cloud backups.

The contract with ICE was awarded amid active efforts by the Biden administration to reform the commercial spyware market. The measures include the inclusion of companies such as NSO Group and Intellexa in the Entity List, the introduction of visa restrictions and sanctions against persons associated with the development and sale of such software.

Notable fact: Paragon bills itself as an "ethical" spyware manufacturer. The company's U.S. subsidiary website says it provides customers with "ethics-based tools", and one investor claims that Paragon's software "makes the world a safer place." The company is proud to cooperate with law enforcement and intelligence services of 39 countries that meet the standards of "enlightened democracy".

Founded in 2019 by veterans of Israel's intelligence unit Unit 8200, Paragon has attracted investment from U.S. venture capital firms Battery Ventures and Blumberg Capital. According to experts, the lack of sanctions against Paragon by the Biden administration may indicate the company's successful lobbying efforts. Wired claims that in 2019, Paragon engaged consulting firm WestExec Advisors to promote its interests, co-founded by current US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Earlier, Forbes wrote that according to Paragon, its technologies are aimed at accessing only specific applications, and not at full control over the device. This is what makes it different from NSO Group.

The company was founded in 2019 by former Israeli intelligence officers, including Ehud Shneorson, the former commander of Unit 8200. The board of directors also included former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.