Mexican government uses malware to spy on journalists

[humble3d]

Mexican government uses malware to spy on journalists

and political opponents and who else ?

 On June 19, a report by the New York Times and research center Citizen Lab

revealed that Israeli software purchased by the Mexican government was used

to spy on prominent journalists and human rights activist in the country,

including one minor.

 

 

The software, known as Pegasus, collects all communications of a targeted phone if the

recipient opens a malicious link sent via text message.

Pegasus spyware lets hackers silently monitor all emails, texts, contacts,

and locations of an infected phone, as well as activate a phone’s microphone

and camera at will, even when the device is off.

Over 76 text messages containing the Pegasus malware were sent to lawyers

working on the investigation of the 43 missing Ayotzinapa students,

lobbyists working on anti-corruption and consumer health legislation,

political opponents of the government and journalists critical of the Peña

Nieto administration.

A few individuals reportedly opened the malicious links and fell victim to

this targeted surveillance.

According to the New York Times, at least three federal agencies—the

Secretary of Defense, the Office of the General Prosecutor, and the Center

for Research and National Security—have purchased over $80 million worth of

the spyware from the Israeli cyber arms firm NSO Group, itself owned by US

private equity firm San Francisco Partners.

NSO Group sells products exclusively to governments under the guise of

fighting crime and terrorism.

 

The hacking attempts coincided with key investigations critical of the

government led by the targeted individuals between January 2015 and August

2016, after which Citizen Lab published a report linking Pegasus spyware to

the targeting of a human rights advocate in the United Arab Emirates.

 

Due to media coverage of the incident at that time, it is possible that the

Citizen Lab investigation led to the termination of the program on Mexican

soil.

 

Although records indicate the Mexican government began purchasing Pegasus

spyware in 2011, the first known instance of NSO surveillance in Mexico

dates from early 2015, when prominent journalist Carmen Aristegui began

receiving suspicious messages appearing to be Amber Alerts, or sent from her

bank and her colleagues.

A few months earlier, Aristegui had broken a national conflict of interest

story related to the purchase of a $7 million house by Peña Nieto’s wife

from a government subcontractor, which was awarded lucrative contracts when

Peña Nieto was governor of the State of Mexico.

After targeting Aristegui for over a year and a half, the hackers began

contacting her 16-year-old son while he was in the United States.

One message impersonated the embassy of the United States to Mexico, which

may have violated US law. Overall, Aristegui and her son received over 45

messages containing Pegasus malware.

Other hacking attempts targeted journalists who were investigating possible

military killings and corrupt officials.

Carlos Loret del Sol, a journalist for national television channel Televisa,

received text messages with Pegasus malware while reporting on extrajudicial

killings by the military in western Mexico and the their subsequent cover up

by government officials.

Salvador Camarena and Daniel Lizárraga, both journalists for Mexicans

Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), were targeted while investigating

Mexican officials and prominent businessmen named in the Panama Papers.

 

Other charges of NSO government spying shed light on the growing role of

surveillance in defending the ruling elite’s business and political

interests.

In February, a separate investigation by Citizen Lab revealed that

proponents of a national soda tax—including a scientist at the Mexican

National Institute for Public Health and directors of consumer rights NGOs—

were sent Pegasus malware.

 

 

In the eyes of the ruling elite, this was deemed an unacceptable encroachment

on the profit interests of soda companies in a country where 40 percent of the population is obese.

 

Last week, it was also revealed that NSO spyware was found on the phones of

leading members of the right-wing opposition Party of National Action (PAN),

including the phones of party president Ricardo Anaya, potential

presidential candidate Roberto Gil Zuarth, and party spokesperson Fernando

Rodríguez Doval.

These messages were received in June 2016, the same month that the PAN won

12 governorships in the country, three of which were previously held by the

ruling PRI.

 

“It is unacceptable that attempts to infect the phones of PAN members was

carried out by a program whose license can only be acquired by the

government to fight organized crime,” stated PAN president Ricardo Anaya.

 Despite Anaya’s feigned opposition, the software was reportedly purchased

in 2011, when the PAN’s Felipe Calderón was president.

 

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, presidential candidate of the “left” Movement

of National Regeneration (Morena), also postured as an opponent of spying

and claimed he would eliminate surveillance programs if he won the

presidency: “Instead of dealing with public security issues, they are spying

on opponents and now journalists…when Morena wins, [the Mexican spy agency]

Cisen will disappear, there will be no political espionage, freedom will be

guaranteed, there will be no phone surveillance.”

López Obrador’s mention of “public security” proves he is a firm defender of

the military and is merely proposing a tactical shift to give a facelift to

the corrupt Mexican political establishment.

Mexico’s president responded to the investigation by threatening those

making accusations against the government and doubling down on claims the

surveillance technology was used to “ensure the security of all Mexicans.”

“None of the injured parties can prove their life has been affected or hurt

by these supposed interventions and by the alleged espionage…I hope justice

can be served against those who have raised false claims against the

government,” stated Peña Nieto.

Following the New York Times article, the Office of the General Prosecutor

(PGR) started an investigation into the spying allegations, despite being

one of the agencies that reportedly purchased the software.

The PGR has ignored calls for an independent investigation of the

surveillance program and has refused to release a list of targeted

individuals.

 

Despite broad popular opposition, the crisis-ridden government has been

pushing to expand its surveillance capabilities.

The Interior Security Law, introduced by both the PRI and the PAN during the

last legislative session, was aimed at further institutionalizing spying

measures by granting the military the ability to engage in data collection

without any form of accountability and forcing private companies to hand

over user data.

 

In Mexico, attempts to spy on journalists take place in the context of

broader attacks against freedom of the press.

Mexico is the third deadliest country in the world for journalists, with

many targeted for their coverage of organized crime, drug trafficking, and

corruption. Not a single conviction has resulted from the 103 journalist

killings in the country since 2000.

The efforts of the Mexican government to curtail freedom of speech and of

the press are by no means an isolated phenomenon.

All around the world, the capitalist system is resorting to mass spying of

the population to attempt to monitor and control rising social discontent

under the framework of protecting “national security.”

 

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/05/mexi-j05.html

 

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