The Citizen Lab

"The impacts of transnational repression (TNR) are far-reaching, with detrimental effects on individuals' social, psychological, and physical well-being."

@noura.bsky.social, @sanstis.bsky.social, and Gözde Böcü examine the impacts of TNR in their new article: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Canada’s outdated laws leave spyware oversight dangerously weak Canada’s laws lag far behind the spyware tools used by police — leaving civil liberties, privacy, and national security exposed.

Writing for @policyoptions.irpp.org, the Citizen Lab’s Kate Robertson and Song-Ly Tran discuss how 🇨🇦 Canada’s outdated wiretap laws fail to protect Canadians from spyware abuse.

Read it here:
policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/ju...

I am honoured and excited to be delivering a keynote @blackhatevents.bsky.social 🇺🇸 2025

Come hear about the history of @citizenlab.ca, our investigations into mercenary spyware and other abuses, and what keeps me up at night!

www.blackhat.com/us-25/briefi...

A Match Made in the Heavens: The Surveillance State and the “New Space” Economy | TechPolicy.Press As private firms dominate space, satellites serve both aid and surveillance—raising urgent questions about power, privacy, and democratic control.

🛰️ New article co-authored by the Citizen Lab's @gabriellelim.bsky.social discusses the risks of privatized space technology. Published in @techpolicypress.bsky.social

Read it here: www.techpolicy.press/a-match-made...

New op-ed by our director @rondeibert.bsky.social takes a look at the G7 Leaders' Statement on transnational repression. Published today in @theglobeandmail.com

Why are governments around the world tightening laws on misinformation?

The Citizen Lab’s @gabriellelim.bsky.social examines the global surge of misinformation legislation in this new article👇

Suspected Russian hackers used new tactic against UK researcher Suspected Russian hackers have deployed a new tactic to trick even wary targets into compromising their own accounts, a victim of the spy campaign and researchers said on Wednesday.

Keir Giles has been targeted *again* by allegedly Russian hackers — this time using a clever new trick intended to bypass 2-factor authentication.

Over the years I’ve written about Giles an unusual amount, and I have an idea about why.

First, the coverage:
www.reuters.com/technology/s...

Same Sea, New Phish: Russian Government-Linked Social Engineering Targets App-Specific Passwords - The Citizen Lab Keir Giles, a prominent expert on Russia, was targeted with a new form of social-engineering attack that leverages App-Specific Passwords. Google links the operation to UNC6293, a Russian state-backed...

NEW REPORT: Russia's state-backed hackers have a new trick.

In collab w/ Google Threat Intelligence Group, we investigated an attack against prominent Russian expert
@keirgiles.bsky.social & uncovered an elaborate attack targeting App-Specific Passwords (ASPs).

citizenlab.ca/2025/06/russ...

I was encouraged to see the #G7 Leaders' Statement on Transnational Repression which also calls out mitigating harms around mercenary spyware 👇🇨🇦

www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...

Second Italian journalist targeted with Paragon spyware, watchdog group says A second Italian journalist was recently targeted by software made by U.S.-owned surveillance company Paragon, internet watchdog group Citizen Lab said, raising new questions about a surveillance scandal that has already led Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government and Paragon to part ways.

And @raphae.li @reuters.com

www.reuters.com/business/med...

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Canada's 🇨🇦 new proposed border security legislation

Fortunately we have @kate-ro.bsky.social @citizenlab.ca to untangle them for us. Details below 👇

If passed, the bill would introduce new federal agency and law enforcement powers, and would significantly reform substantive and due process laws in Canada for migrants and asylum seekers.

Unspoken Implications: A Preliminary Analysis of Bill C-2 and Canada’s Potential Data-Sharing Obligations Towards the United States and Other Countries - The Citizen Lab On June 3, 2025, the Canadian government tabled Bill C-2, omnibus legislation that, if passed, would introduce a wide array of new federal agency and law enforcement powers, and would significantly re...

🇨🇦A new federal border security bill is being proposed in #Canada that would open the door to expanded data-sharing agreements with the U.S. and other foreign countries.

Read our analysis of Bill C-2 here:
citizenlab.ca/2025/06/a-pr...

Researchers confirm two journalists were hacked with Paragon spyware | TechCrunch The confirmation of two hacked victims further deepens an ongoing spyware scandal that, for now, appears largely focused on the Italian government.

NEW: Researchers found forensic evidence of Paragon's spyware on the iPhones of two journalists.

One is Ciro Pellegrino, who works for @fanpage.it. The other is an unnamed prominent European journalist.

Looks like the spyware scandal that for now has focused on Italy may expand further in Europe.

Graphite Caught: First Forensic Confirmation of Paragon’s iOS Mercenary Spyware Finds Journalists Targeted - The Citizen Lab On April 29, 2025, a select group of iOS users were notified by Apple that they were targeted with advanced spyware. Among the group were two journalists who consented to the technical analysis of the...

NEW REPORT: Our forensic analysis confirms ✅ two more European journalists targeted with Paragon's Graphite spyware.

Read it here: citizenlab.ca/2025/06/firs...

Virtue or Vice? A First Look at Paragon’s Proliferating Spyware Operations - The Citizen Lab In our first investigation into Israel-based spyware company, Paragon Solutions, we begin to untangle multiple threads connected to the proliferation of Paragon's mercenary spyware operations across t...

And here's our original report that kicked all of this off 👇

Paragon marketed itself as the responsible alternative to NSO. But without proper safeguards & oversight, it's not clear any firm canmake such claims when it comes to how govts will abuse their hacking tech

citizenlab.ca/2025/03/a-fi...

NEW: #Google's #Android 16 to feature optional high security mode. Cool!

It's the 'turn this one thing on if you face elevated risk' that we've been asking for from Google.

Bunch of requested features that address the kinds of threats we worry about.

Let's dig in a bit 1/

Circumventing internet censorship in Indonesia is getting harder.

@irenepoet.bsky.social examines Indonesia’s use of DNS redirection to censor online content and how it impacts free expression in her essay published by @carnegieendowment.org.

Read here: carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

The U.S. Wants Canada to Become A Police State - Macleans.ca Appeasing Trump's border demands only emboldens authoritarians worldwide. Here's why we must resist.

Canada 🇨🇦's Liberal govt has proposed a new "Border Security Bill," in large part in response to pressures from 🇺🇸

I raised concerns about that back in March 2025 👇

macleans.ca/politics/the...

The PRC Transnational Repression Efforts: Influence, Interference, and Legitimacy - Canada China Forum China’s efforts to exert influence beyond its borders have sparked global debates on the distinction between legitimate foreign influence and illegitimate foreign interference. While many states engag...

What exactly sets foreign interference apart from influence? On June 9, join the Citizen Lab’s @emiledirks.bsky.social for an online session that will explore the evolving landscape of China’s transnational influence and repression efforts.

Register here:
canadachinaforum.ca/2025/05/the-...

Check out this zine which captures the key moments from "Resisting Technofascism" - a panel discussion moderated by our senior fellow @cyn-k.bsky.social at U of Windsor's #WeRobot2025 conference last month.

See it here👇 www.uwindsor.ca/law/sites/uw...

🧵 On April 16, we @citizenlab.ca published our report on JUICYJAM, a longstanding doxxing and harassment campaign that Thai authorities have been running against the local pro-democracy movement.

Unsurprisingly, we and those reporting on it then became their target.

Virtue or Vice? A First Look at Paragon’s Proliferating Spyware Operations - The Citizen Lab In our first investigation into Israel-based spyware company, Paragon Solutions, we begin to untangle multiple threads connected to the proliferation of Paragon's mercenary spyware operations across t...

Earlier this year, we forensically analyzed multiple Android phones belonging to Paragon targets in Italy, and found clear indications that spyware had been loaded into WhatsApp, as well as other apps on their devices.

Read the report:
citizenlab.ca/2025/03/a-fi...

“When we look at the pie chart of targeting to see who was targeted with this technology, the biggest slice of the pie in every case I’ve ever looked at has not been criminal investigative work, it has been governments targeting other governments for espionage.” - @jsrailton.bsky.social

YouTube video by The Citizen Lab John Scott-Railton Testifies Before the EU Parliament

Senior researcher @jsrailton.bsky.social appeared before the EU Parliament’s LIBE committee on 05/13 to share the latest research on the proliferation of #spyware in #Europe. youtu.be/dkkfCaJF0Jw

Join us on May 21 for a hybrid workshop to explore digital sovereignty, the methodologies for its study, & the global trend around sovereignty in the digital world.

Learn more & register here: cis.cnrs.fr/metrics-of-s...

46th IEEE Symposium on Security & Privacy The IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy has been the premier forum for presenting developments in computer security and electronic privacy, and for

Tune in for Citizen Lab fellow Mona Wang's presentation of this paper at the IEEE Symposium on Privacy & Security on May 14. Register here: na.eventscloud.com/ereg/index.p...

How secure are the apps on your Android phone?

Researchers at the Citizen Lab and Princeton evaluated the network security of Android apps & found that a large portion of popular Chinese apps use broken proprietary network protocols instead of TLS. Read the paper here: computer.org/csdl/proceed...

I'm thinking of all of the countless victims, only a fraction of which we @citizenlab.ca @accessnow.org @amnesty.org and others identified of NSO Group's malicious sales to ruthless despots and corrupt security agencies.

Never let bullies win.

Digital Authoritarianism and the Fight for Democracy

With today's jury award in the WhatsApp / NSO case, I'm especially looking forward to talking with @rondeibert.bsky.social and @sheilacoronel.bsky.social tomorrow about "digital authoritarianism and the fight for democracy." Fully subscribed already but there's an open waitlist--link below.