INSIGHT-How Myanmar s military moved in on the telecoms sector to spy on citizens Reuters 2 days ago
By Fanny Potkin and Poppy McPherson
SINGAPORE/BANGKOK, May 19 (Reuters) - In the months before the Myanmar military s Feb. 1 coup, the country s telecom and internet service providers were ordered to install intercept spyware that would allow the army to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens, sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters.
The technology gives the military the power to listen in on calls, view text messages and web traffic including emails, and track the locations of users without the assistance of the telecom and internet firms, the sources said.
How Myanmar s military moved in on the telecoms sector to spy on citizens reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
March 4, 2021 Share
An international advocacy group’s claim that the Vietnamese government has tapped hackers to target activists shows that the communist Southeast Asian state is widening the use of technology to quash its biggest opponents, experts believe.
Ocean Lotus, a shadowy group suspected of working with the Vietnamese government, is “behind a sustained campaign of spyware attacks,” London-based Amnesty International said in a statement on February 24 following two years of research. It says the attacks surfaced in 2014 and targeted rights activists and the private sector, inside Vietnam as well as abroad.
The hack attacks would signal a growing use of technology to muzzle strong vocal opponents of Vietnam’s officials, country observers say. Police already use internet trolls and authorities have been known to damage people’s Facebook accounts, said James Gomez, regional director of the Asia Centre, a Bangkok-based think tank.
Vietnam Tapping Hackers to Silence Critics, Experts Warn pakistantelegraph.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pakistantelegraph.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Vietnam joins the ranks of governments using spyware to crack down on human-rights defenders.
Human-rights activists are being targeted by cyberattacks as part of a wider effort by the Vietnamese state to censor anyone speaking out against the government, Amnesty International’s Security Lab alleges.
Ocean Lotus, a well-known threat actor dating back to 2013, is behind the spyware campaign against human-rights defenders and has long been identified as having goals “aligned with the Vietnamese state interests,” according to Amnesty International’s report on the situation.
Spyware is just the latest tool turned against dissenting bloggers and activists by the Vietnamese government, an arsenal which also includes harassment, assault, travel bans and jail, the report explained.