A grad student exposes the UAE's use of sophisticated cyber tools to spy on critics

A trim Ph.D. candidate Bill Marczak has issued a report detailing the UAE's use of sophisticated cyber tools to spy on critics like Ahmed Mansoor.

In his report, Marczak worked with Lookout computer-security outfit to reveal the new arena of cyber-warfare.

The report shed light on shadowy firms that sell spyware to corrupt governments across the globe, mainly in UAE.

Bill Marczak stumbled across a program that could spy on your iPhone’s contact list and messages—and even record your calls. 

The program came from the email of Ahmed Mansoor, the U.A.E. dissident, who remained under relentless harassment by his government. 

 Similar anonymous e-mails were received by a number of activists in different countries who their devices contained spyware marketed by a Milan-based company named Hacking Team. 

According to the report, the Hacking Team's tcyber tools were being used by the  U.A.E. government to spy on activists who voiced criticism of the government.

The report also discovered that 24 U.A.E. citizens had been targeted with the same spyware in posts sent via Twitter. Three had been arrested shortly after. Another was convicted of insulting the U.A.E.’s rulers in absentia. 

The U.A.E. government, Marczak wagered, was not only persistent but overconfident, or at least unconcerned about being discovered.

Clich here to read the report: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/how-bill-marczak-spyware-can-cont...