WikiLeaks reveals malware targeting journalists, activists

JC Torres

WikiLeaks has dropped another bombshell, this time in the form of software, for those already weary of governments all over the world spying on people, whether they be their citizens for not. It is giving out malware developed by German company FinFisher in the hopes that countermeasures can be developed to give its intended targets, journalists, activists, and political dissidents, a fighting chance.

According to WikiLeaks, FinFisher is a German outfit, formerly part of a UK company, that has been developing malware, particularly intrusion software, that can intercept communications and data from almost all major operating systems, whether they be desktop or mobile. This software is then bought by government intelligence agencies who then particularly target journalists and activists. FinFisher's name first surfaced in WikiLeak's 2011 disclosure.

That governments would use such software to spy on people isn't exactly news, especially after the WikiLeaks and Snowden leaks. What the group found to be worrying, if not despicable, is that the company continues to operate today and from Germany in fact, even after its government's public position against spying. That FinFisher sells this kind of software to what WikiLeaks describes as the most abusive regimes in the world is also a major source of concern.

This FinFisher malware is being made available as part of the group's SpyFiles collection, now in its fourth incarnation. The files also include a database of FinFisher's customers. Quite ironically, that list names Mongolia as one of the largest buyers, with 16 licenses associated with it. The country has just recently been selected as the chair of the Freedom Online Coalition, a group made up of governments trying to work towards protecting basic human rights, which include freedom of expression and online privacy.

SOURCE: WikiLeaks

Read this article:
WikiLeaks reveals malware targeting journalists, activists

I saved Bitcoin and the PERFECT DRAFT OF HISTORY, says Assange

Providing a secure and efficient Helpdesk

Julian Assange has alleged that Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto asked WikiLeaks not to use the cryptocurrency as a means of raising funds, for fear of attracting unwanted attention.

The allegation surfaced in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session Assange conducted to promote a new book. In that session he offers this extract from the new tome:

On 5 December 2010, just after VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Amazon, and other financial companies started denying service to WikiLeaks, a debate broke out on the official web forum for Bitcoin about the risk that donations to WikiLeaks using Bitcoin could provoke unwanted government interest in the then nascent crypto-currency. 'Basically, bring it on,' wrote one poster. 'Satoshi Nakamoto,' the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, responded: No, dont bring it on. The project needs to grow gradually so the software can be strengthened along the way. I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.

Assange's answer goes on to state that WikiLeaks read and agreed with Satoshis analysis, and decided to put off the launch of a Bitcoin donation channel until the currency had become more established.

That decision came in 2011, a time Assange says it did so at the time of the currency's first boom. In other words, once it had sufficient momentum that association with Assange wouldn't attract nasty blowback.

Assange looks like he is trying to claim that the delay in BTC adoption wasn't just a kindness, but a visionary, secrecy-busting act, because:

Bitcoin's real innovation is a globally verifiable proof publishing at a certain time. The whole system is built on that concept and many other systems can also be built on it. The blockchain nails down history, breaking Orwell's dictum of 'He who controls the present controls the past and he who controls the past controls the future'.

Those are some big claims, and an unusual analysis of Bitcoin. Never mind a contentious one given the many security SNAFUs the crypto-currency has endured.

Feel free to write your own draft of history Global or Assange's as a comment.

The rest is here:
I saved Bitcoin and the PERFECT DRAFT OF HISTORY, says Assange

Snowden Leaks show New Zealand, NSA Spied on Underwater Cables

TIME World New Zealand Snowden: NSA Collected Data on New Zealand Citizens Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Internet Party leader Laila Harre, Robert Amsterdam, Glenn Greenwald and Kim Dotcom discuss the revelations about New Zealand's mass surveillance at Auckland Town Hall in Auckland, New Zealand on Sept. 15, 2014. Hannah PetersGetty Images New Zealand prime minister denies his government helped U.S. collect data on private citizens by gaining access to undersea cables

Documents released by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden purport to show U.S. and New Zealand officials have collected Internet data via underwater cables that connect New Zealand, Australia and North America.

The documents, reported by The Intercept and the Sydney Morning Herald, are said to show the program, called Speargun, had initially been implemented in 2012 or early 2013 by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) of New Zealand.

The GCSB was alleged to have gained covert access to a Trans-Pacific undersea cable network through which data is transmitted between Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii, to allow the NSA to harvest data.

Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key denies that the GCSB has participated in mass surveillance of citizens, though he reportedly would not discuss the existence of the program New Zealand reportedly used to conduct surveillance.

Snowden said in an interview with The Intercept website, which first reported the programs existence, that the Prime Minister was fully aware of the program. The Prime Ministers claim to the public, that there is no and there never has been any mass surveillance, is false, Snowden said. The GCSB, whose operations he is responsible for, is directly involved in the untargeted, bulk interception and algorithmic analysis of private communications sent via internet, satellite, radio, and phone networks.

[Sydney Morning Herald]

Original post:
Snowden Leaks show New Zealand, NSA Spied on Underwater Cables

Snowden claims US spy sensor ‘in NZ’

Stuff.co.nz

Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom has revealed his 'Moment of Truth' with guests Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Glenn Greenwald.

Edward Snowden claims there is a US National Security Agency facility in Auckland and in the north of New Zealand.

The former US contractor-turned-fugitive whistleblower was beamed into the Auckland Town Hall from Russia for Kim Dotcom's "Moment of Truth" event.

As an NSA infrastructure analyst he "realised the absolute scale of how deep this went."

Hours beforehand, in a report on the website of journalist Glenn Greenwald, Snowden claimed that while working for the US NSA he "routinely" came across the communications of New Zealanders while working in the XKeyscore mass surveillance tool.

"It allows total, granular access to the database of communications collected in the course of mass surveillance. It is not limited to or even used largely for the purposes of cybersecurity, as has been claimed, but is instead used primarily for reading individuals private email, text messages, and internet traffic," he wrote.

A network of sensors placed around the world would allow him to search on an email address. One of those sensors is in New Zealand.

Snowden said X-Keyscore is collecting the communications of people in New Zealand and it is not related to foreign intelligence.

Snowden said that within the Five Eyes intelligence network, New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)contributes to the collection of communications.

Original post:
Snowden claims US spy sensor 'in NZ'

Switzerland Says It Would Shield Snowden From ‘Political’ Extradition To US

(Reuters) - Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden could be granted safe passage in Switzerland if he helped a potential criminal inquiry into U.S. spying there, the Swiss public prosecutor's office said on Monday.

He would probably not be extradited to the United States if Washington asked, but it was also unlikely that he would be granted political asylum, according to a document laying out Switzerland's legal options if Snowden were to visit.

The prosecutor's office, which provided the document to Reuters, stressed the issue was "purely hypothetical" because Snowden had not been invited to come from his current refuge in Russia. It had no further comment.

The document was leaked last week and prompted a lively debate in the Swiss media.

Some German politicians have suggested inviting Snowden to Germany to testify about National Security Agency spying there, but Berlin has ruled that out to avoid a clash with Washington over extraditing him to the United States.

Michael McCaul, Republican head of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, reacted to the Swiss debate by telling the U.S.-based Foreign Policy magazine that Snowden should not be allowed to "trade our intelligence community's sources and methods for safe haven in other countries".

GENEVA CIA ACTIVITIES

According to the three-page Swiss document, "Edward Snowden could be assured of free movement by the federal prosecutor if he cooperated with a criminal investigation" into U.S. spy activities he says he learned about while working in Geneva.

Switzerland would not comply with a U.S. extradition request if he is accused of treason or divulging state secrets because such charges would have a "political character" under Swiss law, the document said.

The guarantee for Snowden's free passage in Switzerland could be trumped by "higher state obligations" such as a treaty, the document said, adding this required more study.

More here:
Switzerland Says It Would Shield Snowden From 'Political' Extradition To US

Snowden: NSA collecting data on New Zealanders

Published September 15, 2014

Sept. 15, 2014 - Former NSA systems analyst turned leaker Edward Snowden appears via video link from Russia to hundreds at the Auckland, New Zealand Town Hall. Snowden says the NSA is collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders through its XKeyscore program and has set up a facility to tap into vast amounts of data.(AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand Former National Security Agency systems analyst turned leaker Edward Snowden said Monday that the NSA is collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders through its XKeyscore program and has set up a facility in the South Pacific nation's largest city to tap into vast amounts of data.

Snowden talked via video link from Russia to hundreds of people at Auckland's Town Hall.

Shortly before he spoke, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key issued a statement saying New Zealand's spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, has never undertaken mass surveillance of its own people. Key said he declassified previously secret documents that proved his point.

"Regarding XKeyscore, we don't discuss the specific programs the GCSB may or may not use," Key said. "But the GCSB does not collect mass metadata on New Zealanders, therefore it is clearly not contributing such data to anything or anyone."

Snowden, however, said Key was carefully parsing his words, and that New Zealand agencies do collect information for the NSA and then get access to it.

"There are actually NSA facilities in New Zealand that the GCSB is aware of and that means the prime minister is aware of," Snowden said. "And one of them is in Auckland."

He said Key was avoiding the main issue by not talking about XKeyscore.

"To this day, he's said I won't talk about this. I won't talk about this because it's related to foreign intelligence," Snowden said. "But is it related to foreign intelligence if it's collecting the communications of every man, woman and child in the country of New Zealand?"

See the rest here:
Snowden: NSA collecting data on New Zealanders

NZ PM rejects Snowden’s spying claims

Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden's claims that the GCSB carries out mass surveillance inside New Zealander are "simply wrong", Prime Minister John Key says.

Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden's claims that the GCSB carries out mass surveillance inside New Zealander are "simply wrong", Prime Minister John Key says.

"There is not, and never has been, mass surveillance of New Zealanders undertaken by the GCSB," he said after Snowden, a former US National Security Agency (NSA) analyst, published his claims on The Intercept website.

They're part of the "Moment of Truth" revelations Kim Dotcom is about to announce in Auckland.

"If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched," Snowden wrote.

"At the NSA I routinely came across the communications of New Zealanders in my work with a mass surveillance tool we share with the GCSB, called XKEYSCORE.

"It allows total, granular access to the database of communications collected in the course of mass surveillance. It is not limited to or even used largely for the purposes of cybersecurity, as has been claimed, but is instead used primarily for reading individuals' private email, text messages, and internet traffic."

Mr Key, who has always denied the GCSB carries out mass surveillance or does anything outside the law, says he's setting the record straight.

"I believe New Zealanders deserve better than getting half of a story, embellished for dramatic effect and political gain, and based on incomplete information," he said in a statement after Snowden had published his claims.

"The GCSB undertakes cyber security operations to protect individual public and private sector entities from the increasing threat of cyber attack."

The rest is here:
NZ PM rejects Snowden's spying claims

Treasure Map: NSA, GCHQ Work On Real-Time "Google Earth" Internet Observation

Welcome to the Slashdot Beta site -- learn more here. Use the link in the footer or click here to return to the Classic version of Slashdot.

Before you choose to head back to the Classic look of the site, we'd appreciate it if you share your thoughts on the Beta; your feedback is what drives our ongoing development.

Beta is different and we value you taking the time to try it out. Please take a look at the changes we've made in Beta and learn more about it.Thanks for reading, and for making the site better!

wabrandsma) writes with the latest accusations about NSA spying activity in Germany. According to top-secret documents from the NSA and the British agency GCHQ, the intelligence agencies are seeking to map the entire Internet Furthermore, every single end device that is connected to the Internet somewhere in the world every smartphone, tablet and computer is to be made visible. Such a map doesn't just reveal one treasure. There are millions of them. The breathtaking mission is described in a Treasure Map presentation from the documents of the former intelligence service employee Edward Snowden which SPIEGEL has seen. It instructs analysts to "map the entire Internet Any device, anywhere, all the time." Treasure Map allows for the creation of an "interactive map of the global Internet" in "near real-time," the document notes. Employees of the so-called "FiveEyes" intelligence agencies from Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which cooperate closely with the American agency NSA, can install and use the program on their own computers. One can imagine it as a kind of Google Earth for global data traffic, a bird's eye view of the planet's digital arteries.

See the original post here:
Treasure Map: NSA, GCHQ Work On Real-Time "Google Earth" Internet Observation