The Citizen Lab

Vice President #KamalaHarris finds herself at the centre of an online disinformation storm following @POTUS Joe Biden’s endorsement. “We should expect a full spectrum of disinformation,” warned Citizen Lab director @RonDeibert, providing a glimpse of how grim the US political discourse may become. t.co/rMTBbB9SqC

This week at #StratfordFest, the Citizen Lab’s director Ron Deibert and researchers Lex Gill and Noura Al-Jizawi join @CBCIdeas’ @NahlahAyed to explore efforts throughout history to imagine new possibilities and make them real - by focusing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

DYK most #VPN services can actually make you less secure? Today @PET_Symposium, Benjamin Mixon-Baca will present research done in collaboration with the Citizen Lab about how VPNs can enable an attacker to act as an in-path router between you and the VPN server. The study identifies a new vulnerability called a “port shadow”. Read about it here: t.co/T0YcsDjFGq

Today, researchers from the Citizen Lab present their work and engage in a discussion on the importance of free and open communications over the internet at the #FOCI workshop co-located with the @PET_Symposium in Bristol. Jeffrey Knockel and Mohamed Ahmed will discuss their findings on the impacts of online censorship on large language models. #pets24 Read the paper here: t.co/pFL8UfbvCI

Hackers On Planet Earth @hopeconf kicks off today in NYC, and Citizen Lab researchers Jeff Knockel, Mona Wang, and Zoë Reichert will be presenting their research on vulnerabilities in the encryption ecosystem in China. More details about the event here: t.co/K3u68rOcEh

Happening soon, join the conversation 👇

“Can an ambiguity in a popular file format be used to geolocate customers of a spyware platform?” Are you an OSINT and threat practitioner who wants to know more about developing fingerprints to track digital attacks? Join the Citizen Lab’s @billmarczak for a riveting discussion @_leHACK_ on “fingerprinting at the frontier”. July 6, 2024 t.co/paCE5v2fAP

🔔 Join our senior researcher @nouraaljizawi for a discussion about transnational repression against activists in Canada - including techniques, available resources to support those living in Canada, and the work of the public inquiry into foreign interference. ⏰ Join the discussion on Twitter spaces on July 9, 2024 at 2 pm ET.

The use of facial recognition by police has implications for privacy rights in Canada. @KateRobertson_ recommends that enforcement agencies should obtain prior judicial oversight and approval to strike a balance between the use of technology and protecting individuals' #privacy rights. More in this @CdnPressNews article by @Joe_Bongiorno_ t.co/lOoCUS8Rnt

👋 Introducing threat-intelligence expert and author Rebekah Brown @PDXbek - the newest addition to our interdisciplinary research team!

💼💻 Job opportunity: Are you interested in working with the Citizen Lab's team of interdisciplinary researchers @UofT? Do you know someone who is? We are looking for an Informatics Security Analyst and Network Administrator to support management and oversight of IT at the lab. ⏰ Applications close July 11, 2024 Details 👉🏽 t.co/jKmKueu9PK

Happening today at 1 PM ET 👇 Cyber Civil Defense Summit @UCBerkeley @CLTCBerkeley

In the wake of controversies surrounding the collection of #biometric data by police forces across Canada, Citizen Lab's @KateRobertson_ spoke with @GregWilson19 @iciradiocanada about the concerns associated with the use of facial recognition. t.co/VeOLv65DRS

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: On June 8th, @gabriellelim, doctoral fellow at Citizen Lab and @VassB, executive director and master of public policy in digital society @McMasterMPP will discuss the nature of #disinformation and its impacts on civil society and freedom of expression as part of @westendphoenix’s #truestories series. Attend in person or join the live stream @westendphoenix’s #truestories series: Date: June 8, 2024 Time: 11 am EST Get details : t.co/luVLaLngNi

Citizen Lab researchers Nicola Lawford and @gozdebocu will be speaking at the 2024 #CyberCivilDefense Summit hosted by @CLTCBerkeley on June 13. They will present a paper co-authored by the Citizen Lab’s @nouraaljizawi discussing #cybersecurity issues faced by US #transnational advocacy groups when targeted by authoritarian countries. Learn more: t.co/8RhDrjqIQd

NEW REPORT: #Russian and #Belarusian- speaking independent media and opposition activists in Europe targeted with NSO Group's #Pegasus mercenary #spyware. Collaborative investigation between @citizenlab & @AccessNow: t.co/7Za3vHkuKm

UPDATE: The Parliament of #Canada is expected to pass #BillC26 in an attempt to increase the country's cyber readiness. In an op-ed for the @globeandmail, the Citizen Lab’s @RonDeibert and @KateRobertson_ warn of the federal bill’s potential to threaten the online security of everyone in Canada. Read it here: t.co/U4BSmKverX

#Canada joins international security partners in release of advisory, guidance on growing #CyberSecurity threat to civil society.

Happening Today 👉 One-day seminar exploring how #Canada and the United States can collaborate to address the problems and opportunities brought about by #China's ascent. @emiledirks, a research associate at Citizen Lab, and other experts discuss how Canada and the United States might work together to improve China's #HumanRights record, notably its repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. If you are in Montreal, you can find more details about the event 👇: t.co/1RZ1etayPZ.

🔔🔔 MARK YOUR CALENDAR TODAY- KEY DISCUSSION- Cities are leveraging artificial intelligence #AI to ensure safety and security for their citizens while safeguarding #privacy and fundamental #HumanRights . It also poses dangers of reduced transparency and amplifying discrimination and inequality within society. Join @KateRobertson_ @citizenlab on a panel to discuss ‘What the use of AI by police will mean for justice in #Canada? ‘ When: May 8, 4pm- 5.30 pm EST Where: Online You can watch the entire session here 👇t.co/6qfNPYTnRn

One billion smartphone users have used #Chinese -language keyboards, which are exposed to #surveillance and eavesdropping. Findings and recommendations of the @CitizenLab report point to significantly greater gaps in systems that extend into software development around the world. Read full article by @IEESpectrum here : t.co/iLQHAizETb

🔔 The rise of #AI and #fake content- @RonDeibert says, “I think it’s going to create all sorts of chaos and havoc, and amplify a lot of the problems that we’re seeing around misinformation and social media.” Read the full article in @uoftmagazine about the urgent need to make digital ecosystem safer. t.co/YsdsFWXlUN

🚨 我們強烈建議所有使用者更新手機上的中文拼音輸入法 @citizenlab 公民實驗室在八家廠商的雲端拼音輸入法中發現了一系列嚴重漏洞: @Baidu 百度、榮耀、訊飛、OPPO、三星、騰訊、Vivo 和小米的拼音輸入法中含有嚴重漏洞，導致網路監聽者可以輕易攔截使用者輸入的內容。使用者輸入的一切內容一覽無遺，造成重大隱私及資安風險。 閱讀完整研究報告： t.co/zWCBOLnheX

🚨 WE URGE ALL USERS TO UPDATE THEIR KEYBOARD APPS IMMEDIATELY 🚨 🆕 New @citizenlab report finds vulnerabilities in the security of cloud-based #pinyin #keyboard apps from vendors Baidu, Honor, iFlytek, OPPO, Samsung, Tencent, Vivo, and Xiaomi that could be exploited to reveal what a user types (keystrokes). Having your keystrokes intercepted is a huge privacy and security risk. Read full report by Jeffrey Knockel, Mona Wang, and Zoë Reichert here 👇 t.co/zWCBOLnheX

FRIDAY PLAYLIST 🎙️ Many governments around the world are most concerned about regime stability, which means they are targeting civil society domestically and transnationally. @Rondeibert discusses #spyware development and how governments are responding. Full episode with @james_a_lewis & @C_Painter on @CSIS_Tech t.co/tv5shPpmgD

Do you know many repressive governments harass their citizens beyond their borders? #TransnationalRepression : A Threat to Human Rights in Europe 🇪🇺. Join LIVE discussion now with: @HNeumannMEP, @s_furstenberg, @mmichae1sen @citizenlab via this link: t.co/KHh7sBibIw

📢 Research Associate @emiledirks @citizenlab made a submission to @CECCgov on human rights in #China, focusing on Chinese government-backed online #censorship and its impact on #FreedomofExpression. Not only China but also US-based firms, are complicit. t.co/CCRbQLRWRA

How do Chinese 🇨🇳 businesses manage foreign influence activities on behalf of the Chinese government? Join @albefittarelli and @DisinfoEU on Apr 4 for a discussion. Register 👉 t.co/007eyoFUjN

Technology platforms co-operate with authoritarian governments to provide internet services. @Microsoft's @bing #censors political and religious content as per #China's Internet censorship requirements. @rj_gallagher speaks to @citizenlab's Jeffrey Knockel t.co/CNlzYe5XPk

📢🆕 PAPER OUT in @AJIL_andUnbound by @RonDeibert @sienaanstis and Jakub Dalek that discusses the legal and ethical issues associated with digital accountability research while calling for a comprehensive and cross-jurisdictional ethical framework. t.co/KT5YetvftL