New Research On Computer Backdoors Reveals Disturbing Long Term Risks For All Netizens

Nov 052012
 

Research by the University of Toronto Citizen Lab shows that computer back doors are a permanent security risk to users through out the world.

Their research based on events in the middle east demonstrates readily available commercial software is being used by governments to infiltrate computers used by critics and dissidents.

Bloomberg news reported the case of Ahmed Mansoor who was sitting in “his study in Dubai and made the mistake of clicking on a Microsoft Word attachment that arrived in an e-mail, labeled “very important” in Arabic, from a sender he thought he recognized.

“With that click, the pro-democracy activist unwittingly downloaded spyware that seized on a flaw in the Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) program to take over his computer and record every keystroke. The hackers infiltrated his digital life so deeply they still accessed his personal e-mail even after he changed his password.

Since then, Mansoor, 42, an electrical engineer and father of four, says he has suffered two beatings by thugs in September during his campaign for citizens’ civil rights in the Persian Gulf federation of the United Arab Emirates. While those assailants remain unknown, researchers say they’ve figured out what was behind the virtual assault.

Continue reading »

China Unhappy With U.S. Move To Fund Cyber Dissidents

Feb 172011
 

China reacted angrily to Wednesday’s announcement that the Obama administration was making $25 million available to help democracy activists and cyber disidents circumvent online censorship.

The money is to be used to enable netizens to overcome online hurdles such as China’s great firewall. Ironicall, but unsurprisingl, one China’s first actions following the announcement was to censor reports of it.

Recent popular uprisings in the middle east, while not being attributed to the influence of the internet or social media, were certainly assisted by it. 

Social media was a key tool in the organization of the uprisings which tapped into long held resentments, it did not create those resentments in the first place.

But the swift actions by large numbers of citizens have been carefully watched by leaders of authoritarian regimes like China fearful they will suffer a similar fate.

New agency The Canadian Press reports that “China on Thursday warned the United States not to use calls for uncensored access to the Internet as a pretext to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries.”

Continue reading »