by Rebecca White “The only way to counter repression is by revealing it. And yes, there is always that possibility that I will go back to jail. But if [activists] do not talk, who will?” This quote is taken from a short film of Ahmed Mansoor back in 2015. A prominent Emirati human rights defender…
A sophisticated hacking campaign by a mercenary spyware company targeting Google’s Android operating system has been exposed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab. The technical findings were shared with Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which focuses on countering government-backed cyberattacks. As a result, Google along with other affected vendors, including Samsung, were able to release security updates…
Attackers who use phishing scams to target human rights defenders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are developing increasingly sophisticated techniques to infiltrate their accounts and evade digital security tools, according to new research published by Amnesty Tech. The organization highlighted three key tactics attackers are employing to ensnare people who take extra…
In December 2018, Amnesty International documented widespread targeted phishing attacks against human rights defenders (HRDs) in the Middle-East and North Africa, in the report “When Best Practice Isn’t Good Enough”. That report documented how attackers had specifically developed techniques to target HRDs who had taken extra steps to secure their online accounts, such as by…
Summary Introduction From the arsenal of tools and tactics used for targeted surveillance, phishing remains one of the most common and insidious form of attack affecting civil society around the world. More and more Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) have become aware of these threats. Many have taken steps to increase their resilience to such tactics. These…