DIGITAL LIFE
Technologies would be 'increasing surveillance machine' with COVID-19 toolsCyber-espionage companies are using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to watch over citizens and threaten civil liberties, web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa and software engineer and technology and security analyst Patricia Gorky.
"We are seeing the coronavirus crisis being used as a way to further attack privacy and civil liberties, not just in the US ... but around the world," Garaffa told the agency on Monday (4).
On Wednesday (Reuters), Reuters published a story describing how at least eight cyber surveillance and intelligence companies around the world are "trying to sell spy and policing tools" to supposedly help governments curb the spread of COVID -19.
Two of the companies specifically mentioned in the report are Israeli companies Cellebrite and NSO Group.
Skipping the security system
Garaffa noted that "there are at least six other companies involved with several countries around the world", telling Sputnik that Cellebrite sells a device called GrayKey that is used to extract information from cell phones, bypassing any password protection on them. The device is made by GrayShift, a North American mobile forensics company.
"At the end of the day, what Cellebrite's GrayKey does is get a copy of everything on your device. Now think about what's on your phone. It's not [just] photos or emails [...] So, now, Cellebrite is offering these tools to more governments under the guise of tracking the spread of COVID-19. "
"They are suggesting that governments buy these GrayKey and other devices, and when someone is diagnosed with the coronavirus or dies from it, the government actually takes their phone number so they can see all of their locations," explained Chris Garaffa. According to the Reuters report, an email from Cellebrite to police in New Delhi, India, this month, states that its technology can be used to "quarantine the right people". In that case, it would "suck" an infected person's location and contact information, explains Reuters.
Cellebrite told the Indian government that this process would normally only be done with the consent of the phone owner. However, if an infected person breaks the law by failing to follow public gathering guidelines, for example, the police could use Cellebrite's tools to break into a confiscated phone.
"We don't need the phone password to collect the data," a Cellebrite spokesman wrote to a police officer on April 22 in an email obtained by Reuters.
"The NSO Group sells software called Pegasus to governments," noted Garaffa. "There are rumors that they sell them to large corporations," he explained, adding that there is "no sure confirmation yet."
"But what Pegasus is, [he] is a collection of attacks, and these are sometimes called zero days, because they are not seen in nature," said Garaffa. "Nobody knows about them until you see them. So, the NSO Group, instead of sharing these matters with the manufacturer, they keep them close and keep them secret so that Pegasus can use them to compromise and take care of cell phones of people."
"The NSO situation is actually worse for me. It has been involved in building a huge tracking platform for the Israeli government. The NSO Group claims, and this is somewhat controversial, that they can find out their coordinates unless one meter from where you are and if that’s true, this is a very advanced technology, "noted Garaffa.
The Reuters report notes that the NSO Group is marketing COVID-19 tracking platforms to countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe. The technology would allow governments to track those with whom an infected person has been in contact in previous weeks.
Power abuse
"There is absolutely no transparency about the methods used by NSO or Cellbrite or by any of the eight companies mentioned in this article," said Chris Garaffa, with which Gorky agreed, adding that such companies are using COVID-19 as an excuse for " deepen the surveillance machine ".
Chris Garaffa considers that "these surveillance companies" are testing "directly on the Palestinian people" to track what they are saying on social media, locations, etc.
"[...] And the fact that these companies are even being considered as possibilities to fight the coronavirus shows the fact that it is not about fighting COVID. [The objective] is really to deepen the surveillance machine and increase it, "noted Patricia Gorky.
While the Reuters article frames the conflict as an issue between privacy rights and health concerns, Garaffa believes there is a bigger issue at stake.
"The subsequent investments and use of these tools only set the stage for ever greater privacy violations, both by governments and companies, with the help of all these companies that are involved," Garaffa noted.
Patricia Gorky/Chris Garaffa via Reuters
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