ONLY a few hours after Azza Soliman, an Egyptian feminist, was arrested in December her colleagues received an e-mail supposedly containing her arrest warrant. It was a sham—slickly designed bait to lure them into handing over their passwords. The messages, sent while Ms Soliman was still being interrogated by police, were probably the work of the state security services. Researchers have documented nearly 100 similar hacking attempts to gain information from some of the country’s most prominent NGOs and journalists.
The subterfuge in Egypt is indicative of a wider trend. Governments across the Middle East are turning to hackers to target bothersome activists and intercept or block their encrypted communications.
A text message sent last year to Ahmed Mansoor, a human-rights advocate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), shows the extent of the effort. It promised “new secrets” about tortured prisoners, if he clicked on the link. Instead, Mr Mansoor forwarded the message...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2qz9w1R
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