A Tangled Web: Cyber Mercenaries

Winnona asks: how does one regulate an industry that operates so far in the shadows? This is a major problem in the hack for hire industry, and something we’re going to try and tackle on our podcast episode today on Cyber.RAR. We will be looking at what it looks like to be selling hacking capabilities to governments, what the nuances within the space are, and what concerning trade-offs we’re making that governments may not understand but industry does.

Show Notes: NSO: https://www.zdnet.com/article/commerce-dept-sanctions-nso-group-positive-technologies-and-more-for-selling-spyware-and-hacking-tools/

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/11/apple-sues-nso-group-to-curb-the-abuse-of-state-sponsored-spyware/

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/21/22848485/pegasus-spyware-jamal-khashoggi-murder-nso-hanan-elatr-new-analysis

https://citizenlab.ca/2016/08/million-dollar-dissident-iphone-zero-day-nso-group-uae/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/08/nso-israeli-spyware-company-whatsapp-lawsuit-ruling

https://www.wired.com/story/nso-group-forcedentry-pegasus-spyware-analysis/

https://citizenlab.ca/2018/11/mexican-journalists-investigating-cartels-targeted-nso-spyware-following-assassination-colleague/

Offensive Cyber Capabilities https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/issue-brief/a-primer-on-the-proliferation-of-offensive-cyber-capabilities/ Coseinc: https://risky.biz/RB310/