When Time scribbles the history of 2011’s Arab Spring it will be a shocker: how fanatics traded stability for bloody chaos, unleashed the demons of Islamic fascism (arguably to the point of making those they “liberated” sentimental for dictatorial rule) -- and gave respected lawful intercept companies such as Utimaco an undeserved black eye or doing the honest job of protecting … [Read more...]
To Lisa Monaco: Give Your New Cyber Agency TecSec Encryption
The news from Washington this week has encryption experts at TecSec and similar companies shaking their heads. Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism advisor Lisa Monaco debuted a new agency -- The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center -- to address the rising “scale, severity and impact” of cyberattacks. But without proper focus on much-needed encryption to stop … [Read more...]
Lost in Translation: Indian Surveillance Market Research By Way of Dublin
It's not every day that original market research on the surveillance biz hits our inbox. Most industry analyst groups greet the topic with the same enthusiasm given the plague or economic collapse. So on the rare occasion new market research on the commercial surveillance sector surfaces, we hit the brakes to see what's up. And here it is: Global Electronic Surveillance … [Read more...]
Fortress Apple: Does it Really Repel FinFisher and The Hacking Team?
When it comes to “lawful malware,” no two players are better known -- or more frequently vilified -- than FinFisher and The Hacking Team. The dynamic duo is widely recognized for pioneering the field of malware used by law enforcement and intel agencies to penetrate and take over targets’ communications devices. Not to mention spreading the technology around the globe in … [Read more...]
Whatever Happened to Bull Amesys? Ask PLATH, Sarkozy — and Dubai
Months before Edward Snowden made his debut on the world scene, Bull Amesys -- a one-time giant of France's IT industry -- found itself embroiled in a public imbroglio over the sale of surveillance technologies to Libya's Muammar Qaddafi, a controversy that linked all the way up to the office of then President Nicolas Sarkozy. In the time since, the companies involved have … [Read more...]