
Evolving phishing attacks target journalists and activists in MENA - secfirstmd
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2019/08/evolving-phishing-attacks-targeting-journalists-and-human-rights-defenders-from-the-middle-east-and-north-africa/
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secfirstmd
There is a very interesting arms race happening in relation to targeting of
journalists and activists over the past few years. From Finfisher to Hacking
Team and NSO Group and even more sophisticated him grown stuff, it is getting
harder and harder to stay on top of things. Governments and adversaries
(including corporate intelligence) are deploying ever more sophisticated tools
to try and gain access.

But it's not just about access, it's also about how they use the information
they gather. For example lower level disruption seems to be increasingly
spreading (disrupt their donors and reputation, damage their personal life),
rather than high level (and public) attacks (beat them up, arrest them). I've
worked on this for over a decade with 50+ organisations and we'll over a 1000+
individual journalists/activists and have started to put together a full
strategic theory about how it is happening and ways to counter. Though to be
honest I am a little concerned about what may be seen as a red team playbook
(which is clearly not my intention). Also I'm trying to find the best medium
and location to be able to discuss this.

For those on Hacker News who are interested in helping journalists and
activists protect themselves in situation such as these. You might be
interested in an app we built and launched called Umbrella. It's a free, open
source app with best practice advice on how activists/journalists can stay
safe at protests, deal with arrest, surveillance, send a secure mail or
communication etc. We wanted an all-in-one guide for anyone who needs help.
You can read more about it at [https://secfirst.org](https://secfirst.org) or
try it

iOS: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/umbrella-
security/id14537153...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/umbrella-
security/id1453715310)

Android:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.umbrella)

