December 2021 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

List politics
by professor rat 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

Starting on the libertarian ancap right, list politics have steadily moved leftwards as cryptoanarchist infrastructure has moved out into the broader economy. But there's never been any question this was a political list. Prominent founder Mongo often referred crypto-centric posts to other fora. Even before the establishment of " Coderpunks '. This is not a list where encryption fanatics can nerd-out on technical details for too long. Or well they can, but at the risk of being ignored. Here endeth the sermon.

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Project Veritas attempted extortion documented
by professor rat 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

>>> . . . while we hate to resort to whataboutism, can you imagine what the mainstream media would do if Trump's daughter's diary contained allegations of sexual molestation and 'inappropriate showers'? For now, we expect crickets. <<< Trump is on the record as saying he would marry his daughter and has been linked to golden showers. But all that aside, conservatives-coughs-fascists, seem quite happy to see a world where rapists, murderers and thieves can run … [View More]

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Cryptocurrency: Privacy-Enabled Coins Route Around SWIFT and SPFS Censorship (of your financial interests too)
by grarpamp 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/12/14/belarus-banks-readying-for-swift-… Belarusian banks are preparing for tougher Western sanctions by signing up to Russia’s alternative to the SWIFT, the international financial messaging network that underpins the global banking system, Russia’s Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid has reported. Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) has more than 400 domestic users — practically every licensed Russian lender — but is used by only … [View More]

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Ars Technica: Backdoor gives hackers complete control over federal agency network
by jim bell 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

Ars Technica: Backdoor gives hackers complete control over federal agency network. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/12/us-federal-agency-fa…

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A new spyware-for-hire, Predator, caught hacking phones of politicians and journalists
by coderman 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

''' Nour, who lives in exile in Turkey, became suspicious when his phone was “running hot.” ''' https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/16/cytrox-predator-phone-hacking-meta/ A new spyware-for-hire, Predator, caught hacking phones of politicians and journalists While NSO Group was [taking flak](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/23/apple-nso-group-lawsuit/) for hacking into the phones of journalists, activists and human rights defenders, an entire class of spyware makers and surveillance-for-hire outfits … [View More]were operating as normal, largely unnoticed. These private surveillance groups develop and deploy never-before-seen exploits that quietly hack into and steal the contents of a victim’s phone — call logs, text messages, emails, location data and more — often on behalf of authoritarian governments targeting their most vocal critics. Now, following an investigation by researchers at Citizen Lab and Facebook’s new parent company, Meta, seven surveillance-for-hire groups have been banned from using the social media giant’s platforms to target other users. Meta [said Thursday](https://about.fb.com/news/2021/12/taking-action-against-surveilla… that it has removed more than 1,500 Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with the seven outfits, which the company said were used for reconnaissance, social engineering and sending malicious links to thousands of victims in over 100 countries. Meta said it’s notified around 50,000 people it believes were targeted by the seven groups. Although much of the recent focus of the surveillance industry has been on companies like NSO Group, both Citizen Lab and Meta warned that the wider surveillance-for-hire industry will continue to balloon if left unregulated. “It’s important to realize that NSO is only one piece of a much broader global cyber mercenary ecosystem,” according to a report of Meta’s investigation seen by TechCrunch before its publication. One of the banned companies is Cytrox, a North Macedonia-based spyware maker. Meta said it found the company using a “vast” infrastructure of web domains mimicking legitimate news sites to target the iPhone and Android devices of its victims. Meta said it sent legal notices to Cytrox and blocked hundreds of domains associated with its infrastructure. Meta was acting on findings by Citizen Lab, which also on Thursday released a [forensic report](https://citizenlab.ca/2021/12/pegasus-vs-predator-dissidents-doubly-infected-iphone-reveals-cytrox-mercenary-spyware/) into the hacking of phones belonging to two Egyptians living in exile — a former politician and the host of a popular news show who asked not to be named. Citizen Lab said the spyware that infected their phones in July 2021, dubbed Predator, was developed by Cytrox. Citizen Lab first discovered the spyware on the iPhone belonging to Ayman Nour, an Egyptian politician and outspoken critic of the incumbent president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who took over the country following a military coup in 2013. Nour, who lives in exile in Turkey, became suspicious when his phone was “running hot.” Citizen Lab found that Nour’s phone had been infected with Pegasus, the now-infamous spyware created by NSO Group. That led to the discovery that his phone had been concurrently hit by the newly discovered Predator spyware. Both Nour’s phone and the phone belonging to the host of the news show were running iOS 14.6, the latest version of iOS at the time of the hacks, suggesting the spyware made use of a never-before-seen exploit in the iPhone’s software to infect the phones. Apple spokesperson Scott Radcliffe declined to say whether the company had fixed the vulnerability. Read more on TechCrunch - [A massive ‘stalkerware’ leak puts the phone data of thousands at risk](https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/19/stalkerware-security-phone-data-tho… - [Apple files lawsuit against NSO Group over Pegasus spyware](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/23/apple-nso-group-lawsuit/) - [This tool tells you if NSO’s Pegasus spyware targeted your phone](https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/19/toolkit-nso-pegasus-iphone-android… Predator shares a similar set of features to NSO’s Pegasus. Citizen Lab said Nour was sent a malicious link over WhatsApp. When opened, the spyware can access a phone’s cameras and microphone and can exfiltrate the phone’s data. Predator — unlike Pegasus — lacks the ability to silently infect a phone without any user interaction, but it makes up for that with persistence. Citizen Lab said the spyware can survive a reboot of an iPhone — typically clearing any spyware lurking in its memory — by creating an automation using the Shortcuts feature built into iOS. The researchers said that, “remarkably,” Nour’s phone was compromised at the same time with both Pegasus and Predator, but that the infections were likely unrelated. “Based on the slapdash nature of Predator’s code, it’s clear we’re looking at the B Team here,” said Bill Marczak, one of the Citizen Lab researchers who discovered and analyzed the Predator malware. “Even so, Predator was still able to break into the latest, fully up-to-date phones, so it’s no surprise that we found repressive governments, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as Predator operators.” Citizen Lab said it was likely that Predator is being used by government customers in Armenia, Greece, Serbia, Indonesia, Madagascar and Oman — plus Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which are known to target their critics with mobile spyware. Meta, meanwhile, said its investigation found Predator customers in Vietnam, the Philippines and Germany. Cytrox CEO Ivo Malinkovski could not be reached for comment; an email sent prior to publication bounced as undelivered. Meta said that it also banned four other Israeli companies involved in the surveillance-for-hire business: Cobwebs, Cognyte, Black Cube and Bluehawk. In addition, it banned BellTrox, an Indian hacking outfit [accused of hacking](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-cyber-mercenaries-exclusi… into thousands of email accounts belonging to politicians and government officials, and a China-based spyware maker believed to be used by China’s law enforcement. Although NSO has faced [legal challenges](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/23/apple-nso-group-lawsuit/) and restrictions on [its business dealings](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/03/us-bans-trade-with-security-fir… in large part because of accusations of abuse and spying on members of civil society — claims that the company has repeatedly denied — the social media giant warned that the growing surveillance industry continues to proliferate regardless. “We will continue to investigate and enforce against anyone abusing our apps,” Meta’s report said. “However, these cyber mercenaries work across many platforms and national boundaries. Their capabilities are used by both nation-states and private enterprises, and effectively lower the barrier to entry for anyone willing to pay. For their targets, it is often impossible to know they are being surveilled across the internet.” --------------------------------------------------------------- You can contact this reporter securely over Signal and WhatsApp to +1 646-755-8849. You can also send files or documents using our SecureDrop. [Learn more](https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/17/techcrunch-launches-securedrop/). [View Less]

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[spam?] vids from grarpamp was: [spam] MC ABCK
by Karl 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

grarpamp sent these vids in reply to threads i made, one of them personal i don't know why grarpamp is stuck using youtube when there are more free video sharing services. this means grarpamp has been coerced by google, right? to not use free video services? part of me wanted to transcribe the videos. i don't usually set systems up for watching them, but sometimes watch them anyway. haven't visited the links at this time. i'm pretty scared they could be dangerous to watch. On 12/18/21, … [View More]

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[spam][wrong][joke][crazy] MC Iguana
by Karl 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

A: My pet iguana is mind controlling me. B: No. Iguanas don't do that A: For real A: [sits down next to iguana] iguana: [twitches slightly] A: [eyes glaze over] A: YES MASTER I WILL FEED YOU. B: Um. A: It's okay. He's been mind controlling me for some time now. A: [gets food] -- C: We must free this poor person from their iguana. B: They said it's okay. C: Would you ever trust a slave who said they were okay? A: [has just come into room] A: I just meant like, I wasn't being injured, and … [View More]

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2021: Year In Review
by grarpamp 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

The Year Of The New Normal Fascist https://consentfactory.org/2021/12/16/the-year-of-the-new-normal-fascist/ And so, as 2021 goose-steps toward its fanatical finish, it is time for my traditional year-end wrap-up. It’s “The Year of the Ox” in the Chinese zodiac, but I’m christening it “The Year of the New Normal Fascist.” And what a phenomenally fascist year it has been! I’m not talking amateur fascism. I am talking professional Class-A fascism. Government and corporate sanctified fascism. … [View More]

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Leak
by zeynepaydogan 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:A6EF4D336F11BC502BB76006D669E695C959BE79

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Anarchist victory despite association of cryptocurrencies with libertarians and/or finance bros
by professor rat 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

Victory in spite of all setbacks and all terror. Because without victory we will not survive. I still have strong and constantly growing belief in our victory - one day soon we will live in a free society. https://anarchistnews.org/content/no-ethical-activism-under-capitalism

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