<
https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/russia-commercial-surveillance-success-globally>
'A half-dozen governments in Central Asia and Latin American have purchased the
System for Operative Investigative Activities (SORM) wiretapping technology
from Russian providers, expanding their — and potentially Russian
intelligence's — ability to intercept communications.
The technology includes monitoring equipment placed inside a telecommunications
provider's facility, which delivers information to the client government's
intelligence agency, including mobile numbers, phones identifiers, geolocation,
names, email addresses, and IP addresses. That's according to threat
intelligence firm Recorded Future, which found in an analysis that the former
Soviet territories of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, and the
Latin American nations of Cuba and Nicaragua, have very likely acquired the
technology to wiretap citizens.
Western companies and citizens should take measures to protect their
communications and to understand the risks of surveillance when traveling to
countries that have lax civil protections against wiretapping, says a threat
analyst with Recorded Future's Insikt threat intelligence group, who asked to
remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic.
"Obviously, in countries that don't employ SORM — even Western countries —
surveillance frameworks are not immune to abuse, but it's important to look
holistically at this when there's evidence of these systems being built with
Russian-company inputs in a country with a history of state surveillance
operations," the analyst says. "Particularly, human rights defenders,
activists, journalists, members of civil society, but also foreign travelers,
[could all be targets]."
The expansion of Russia's SORM kit highlights the gains of digital surveillance
technology worldwide. The companies behind the spyware tools used by
authoritarian governments — such as NSO Group's Pegasus and Intellexa
Consortium's Predator — have made inroads globally, as the companies refine
their ability to evade roadblocks on sales to sanctioned nations, according to
an in-depth report published by the Atlantic Council in September. Overall, 41%
of the 195 countries worldwide have licensed commercial spyware, including 14
of the 27 countries in the European Union, according to the Atlantic Council.'
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model: January 14, 2025
https://www.patreon.com/posts/threat-model-14-119971746
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
