"Meta: Surveillance-for-Hire Firms Hit 50,000 Victims"

Meta has removed seven “surveillance-for-hire” companies from its platform that target blameless victims in over 100 countries worldwide.  Facebook’s parent company revealed in a report published yesterday that the seven companies are based in China, Israel, India, and North Macedonia. Their services are said to have targeted an estimated 50,000 victims, including journalists, dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition, and human rights activists.  Four entities are based in Israel: Cobwebs Technologies, Cognyte, Black Cube, and Bluehawk CI. Israel has a significant stake in the global surveillance market, notably through the work of controversial firm NSO Group, which WhatsApp launched a legal case against in 2019.  Meta said the organizations operate across the three phases of targeting activity: “reconnaissance” via automated software, “engagement” in a bid to build trust with the individual, and “exploitation” via phishing emails and messages.  The company noted that although public debate has mainly focused on the exploitation phase, it’s critical to disrupt the entire lifecycle of the attack because the earlier stages enable the later ones.  The company also noted that if we can collectively tackle this threat earlier in the surveillance chain, it would help stop the harm before it gets to its final, most serious stage of compromising people’s devices and accounts.  There are signs that the US government is now taking the activities of surveillance companies like these seriously.  In November, the Treasury added NSO Group to its entity list, making it harder for the firm to buy components from US companies.

Infosecurity reports: "Meta: Surveillance-for-Hire Firms Hit 50,000 Victims"