Surveillance-For-Hire: Meta Takes Action Against Eight Spyware Firms (Photo by Max Duzij on Unsplash)
Meta Platforms revealed that they have taken action against eight companies that are operating in the surveillance-for-hire industry. Meta revealed the details in its recently released Adversarial Threat Report for the fourth quarter of 2023. The spyware firms are based in Italy, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates.
The tech giant mentioned in its report that the firms targeted iOS, Android, and Windows devices. Notably, their various malware included capabilities to collect and access device information, location, photos and media, contacts, calendar, email, SMS, social media, and messaging apps, and enable microphone, camera, and screenshot functionality. According to Meta, the eight firms include Cy4Gate, RCS Labs, IPS Intelligence, Variston IT, TrueL IT, Protect Electronic Systems, Negg Group, and Mollitiam Industries.
Meta said that the social engineering and phishing activity of these eight firms targeted several social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Google, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, SnapChat, and Telegram. “We’ve observed that our continuous, repeated disruptions have led to a decrease in activity by these groups on our apps,” added Meta in its report.
In the Adversarial Threat Report, Meta stated that they see a complicated web of corporate structures among the entities engaged in the malicious activities. Meta has removed a network of accounts on Instagram and Facebook linked to the Italian surveillance-for-hire company Cy4Gate, which is associated with a larger defense contractor. Meta said that Cy4Gate was using fake accounts with GAN profile photos to scrape public information about its targets.
Meta has also taken down a network of accounts linked to an Italian spyware firm called RCS Labs, owned by Cy4Gate. Meta revealed that RCS Labs and its customers used tactics that included social engineering and phishing across the internet. “Their fictitious personas posed as protestors, journalists, and young women to trick people into sharing their emails and phone numbers, as well as clicking on malicious links,” said Meta.
