Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are claiming that the "iPhones of at least nine U.S. State Department employees were hacked by an unknown assailant" using NSO Group's spyware as a service platform. The State Department officials were either based in Uganda or focused on matters related to Uganda. NSO responded to the story saying "did not have any indication their tools were used, but canceled access for the relevant customers and would investigate". The relevant customer here, I assume, being Uganda. I think there's enough evidence now that not even Apple's relatively secure smartphones are that secure when a spy agency wants to know what you're up to.
The former director of a Melbourne based cryptocurrency exchange called ACX, currently getting sued by its users after shitting the bed and losing $21m, said he has the wallet containing the user's cryptocurrency - but "the credentials needed to access it were on a laptop that had gone missing" while in China and that laptop was the only place with the passphrase for the wallet. Oh, and all the directors of Blockchain Global Limited have fled to China and are no longer responding to the court, so even if the case succeeds and the court says "give these people back their $21m", they've got fuck all chance of getting paid.
The federal government is considering big changes to electronic surveillance laws in what it calls the "most significant reform to Australia's national security laws in more than four decades". Some of the things flagged for review is an expansion of the agencies that can access telecommunications metadata (the fucken RSPCA and local councils have access, who else needs it that hasn't got access already!?) and the website blocking law that allows government agencies to force ISPs into doing DNS blocks of naughty websites (e.g: how ACMA blocks torrent sites whenever Village Roadshow or Foxtel have a whinge). Yet another thing for our friends at EFA and DRW to wrap their heads around, consider giving them a few bucks.
📻 Brother Keith on Destructor Mountain (4001) - Gerling
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