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Security Technology

US, Partner Countries Call For Controls To Counter Misuse of Spyware (reuters.com) 18

Posted by msmash from the growing-push dept.
The United States and some of its partner countries on Thursday called for strict domestic and international controls to counter the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware. From a report: The joint statement was issued by the governments of Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The countries said they were committed to preventing the export of technology and equipment to end-users who are likely to use them for "malicious cyber activity." The joint statement also said the countries would share information with each other on spyware proliferation and misuse, including to better identify these tools. On Monday, U.S. President Joseph Biden signed an executive order intended to curb the malicious use of digital spy tools around the globe targeting U.S. personnel and civil society. The new executive order was designed to apply pressure on the secretive industry by placing new restrictions on U.S. government defense, law enforcement and intelligence agencies' purchasing decisions.
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US, Partner Countries Call For Controls To Counter Misuse of Spyware More

US, Partner Countries Call For Controls To Counter Misuse of Spyware

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  • "Only we are allowed to spy on citizens" (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Because no matter how many "controls" you add, somehow it doesn't deter, there's always some excuse why this here wanton spying on your own citizenry was okay: "Because we do it."

    • Only the countries listed should have access to these invasive technologies. Because when we do it it's for your own good. Like spying on Trump or journalists or citizens or protesters or the political enemy! When other countries do this its to extend authoriatarianism. These countries lost the right to pull that high road card after the last 20 years af abuses. They turned the high road into dirt roading.

      I am he as you are he as you are me
      And we are all together
      See how they run like pigs from a gun
      See

    • Spying and cybercrime are not the same thing.

      Nations are going to spy on each other. It is part of the "Trust but Verify" paradigm that ensures national security and prevents (accidental) wars.

      Nations also spy on their citizens. This is an internal matter, and accepted/resisted to various degrees in various nations.

      Cybercrime is theft, destruction, blackmail, and ransomware. It is generally perpetrated by private individuals (and groups) for financial reasons. Some cybercrime is perpetrated by nations/g

      • Spying and cybercrime are not the same thing.

        Nations are going to spy on each other. It is part of the "Trust but Verify" paradigm that ensures national security and prevents (accidental) wars.

        Nations also spy on their citizens. This is an internal matter, and accepted/resisted to various degrees in various nations.

        Cybercrime is theft, destruction, blackmail, and ransomware. It is generally perpetrated by private individuals (and groups) for financial reasons. Some cybercrime is perpetrated by nations/groups for terrorist reasons.

        And they (cybercriminals) will find and take advantage of the vulnerabilities you deliberately leave in place so that your allies can do your domestic spying for you.

        • And they (cybercriminals) will find and take advantage of the vulnerabilities you deliberately leave in place so that your allies can do your domestic spying for you.

          So, don't do that. Maybe make your software the best (and most secure) that you can.

          Your incompetence/complicity is not my problem.

          • And they (cybercriminals) will find and take advantage of the vulnerabilities you deliberately leave in place so that your allies can do your domestic spying for you.

            So, don't do that. Maybe make your software the best (and most secure) that you can.

            Your incompetence/complicity is not my problem.

            That would be nice, wouldn't it. However, that would mean that 5 eyes partners couldn't spy on you! And that would be 'wrong'!
            When you live in a 5 eyes country, your intelligence services have 2 jobs; one job is to protect you from your countries geopolitical enemies. The other is to ensure that the rest of 5 eyes can spy on you. Thats just how it is. You are actually more secure in a non 5-eyes country.

            I mean... unless you might be suggesting that people code up their own browsers, operating systems etc,

    • Because no matter how many "controls" you add, somehow it doesn't deter, there's always some excuse why this here wanton spying on your own citizenry was okay: "Because we do it."

      Well, for a start, if you're in 5 eyes, you can have extremely robust laws against spying on your own citizens, and you can actually enforce those laws and expect them to be upheld.... BECAUSE you make sure that any counterintelligence you do does not interfere with your 5 eyes partners spying on your populations. In fact, you ensure that there are vulnerabilities that your 5 eyes partners can use. (oops, when your geopolitical opponents or cybercriminals find those vulns and exploit them though).

      So, when I

  • Why not make spyware impossible? (Score:3)

    by layabout ( 1576461 ) on Thursday March 30, 2023 @02:46PM (#63412408)
    I know it's a hopeless dream but why not make consumer outcome devices to be immune to spyware or at the very least have an indicator detecting the presence of spyware?
    • Deserves a mod up. The answer is ALL countries believe the police or better should be able to bug your phone, just like the good old days. Spyware is NOT the problem. Semi-discoverable protocols, like sending a special hex code to your sim allows privileged remote control. Solution: See https://privacyaustralia.net/r... [privacyaustralia.net] and the tool Detekt, Even better it is now logging power consumption - very hard to cover up. If you know you are being bugged, then you can have fun and plant misinformation, and damage peo

  • Criminals in Government (Score:3)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Thursday March 30, 2023 @03:21PM (#63412480)
    authorized to use spyware vs criminals in government not authorized to use spyware. As we already know, the criminals in government do what ever they want with no consequences.
  • The CIA and BND secretly owned Crypto AG which provided cryptography gear to nearly 200 countries from the end of WWII to the late 80â(TM)s and could read communications of all those countries. Iran during the hostage crisis, Libya after the Berlin nightclub bombing, gave intercepts to the UK during the Falklands. Later they backdoored the digital encryption algorithms that replaced Cryptos mechanical device. The NSA still hoovers up every bit of IP traffic they can get their hooks into. The kerfuff

    • Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you wouldn't prefer those around you to be defenseless.

      It's perfectly reasonable for a nation to want advantage over other nations.... where things get unreasonable is with what they do with those advantages, and of course the giant waste of effort all the different types of arms races represent.

  • Misuse of Spyware (Score:3)

    by NobleNobbler ( 9626406 ) on Thursday March 30, 2023 @06:53PM (#63412874)

    That is definitely the eyebrow raising phrase of the day

  • They are the biggest exporter of spyware to the West at the moment, and the rest are generally concerned with US spyware.

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