AWS gave Parler a chance, won't say if it talked to NSO before axing spyware biz's backend systems
- Reference: 1626847267
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/21/aws_parler_response_vs_nso_response/
- Source link:
Amazon Web Services' contribution to that debate, to date, is the following brief statement: "When we learned of this activity, we acted quickly to shut down the relevant infrastructure and accounts."
Indeed, AWS on Monday axed the backend systems of NSO that were hosted in its cloud. The plug was pulled in time for Tuesday's [1]revelation from Amnesty that "the phone numbers for 14 heads of state, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Pakistan’s Imran Khan and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as hundreds of government officials, were selected as people of interest by clients" of NSO Group.
[2]
Amazon's swift action against NSO contrasts starkly with its handling of Parler, a social network favored by far-right netizens.
[3]
[4]
As The Register [5]reported in January 2021, and AWS [6]stated in a court filing, Parler and AWS had quite a back and forth over how the app was being used to spread violent and hateful content in the context of the failed insurrection at the US Capitol.
AWS eventually concluded that Parler could not meet Amazon's terms of service, which required the timely removal of prohibited content, and booted the company from its cloud. In short, AWS felt Parler was incapable of effectively moderating its users and removing posts identified as harmful, and so switched off the lights.
[7]
I asked AWS if it had engaged in any dialog with the NSO Group before shutting down "the relevant infrastructure and accounts."
The web titan declined to comment.
Interestingly, AWS also suggested to journalists that they consider the wider issue of spyware ethics rather than focusing on its role in the affair.
[8]Amnesty International and French media protection org claim massive misuse of NSO spyware
[9]India IT minister denies illegal use of NSO Pegasus spyware
[10]Parler returns to Apple's iOS App Store with Hive mind to moderate hate
[11]Recovery time objective missed by four weeks, but Parler is back online
That's a reasonable position. The issue is not that cloud resources can be used for evil – any computer can be misused. That some AWS customers wind up using its computers to get up to no good is pretty much expected given Amazon's scale.
But the difference in the company's responses to Parler and NSO group is, at the very least, concerning.
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The overwhelming majority of Reg readers will likely never push the boundaries of AWS's terms and conditions. But AWS's recent comments show that if you do, its response could be inconsistent. Depending on who you are, the plug could be pulled immediately, or after some attempt at dialog.
Is that good enough for mission-critical operations? Only you, dear readers, can decide.
For what it's worth, The Register understands that two of the other clouds named by Amnesty as providers of NSO infrastructure – Linode and Digital Ocean – have not stopped working with NSO Group. We're awaiting comment from OVH, another NSO cloud provider named by Amnesty. ®
PS: If you're worried your devices may have been targeted by or infected with NSO's Pegasus spyware, Amnesty has non-trivial technical details on detecting a compromise [13]here .
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/07/world-leaders-potential-targets-of-nso-group-pegasus-spyware/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPfwRq@H0ab6ydo@lE4rjwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPfwRq@H0ab6ydo@lE4rjwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YPfwRq@H0ab6ydo@lE4rjwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/11/aws_parler_ban/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/13/aws_parler_lawsuit/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPfwRq@H0ab6ydo@lE4rjwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/19/mass_misuse_of_nso_pegasus_spyware_alleged/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/20/ashwini_vaishnaw_bnso_pegasus_denial/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/17/parler_app_apple/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/16/parler_back_online_hosted_by_skysilk/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YPfwRq@H0ab6ydo@lE4rjwAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2021/07/forensic-methodology-report-how-to-catch-nso-groups-pegasus/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The two are not equivalent
NSO was distributing malware from AWS’ servers, creating criminal liability for AWS if they did not shut it down as soon as they became aware of it. Parker’s questionable content is not illegal, at least not in the US.
Re: The two are not equivalent
Additionally, I'm not quite sure what a conversation could have produced for this. With Parler it was a chance to get them to change what they're doing so that they were no longer breaking the TOS. Something they could have done but didn't want to.
With NSO, there's not much left if they remove the malware!
Re: The two are not equivalent
Also, Parler could have enacted safeguards to ensure that they stayed within the bounds of the T&Cs, so they were given a chance to clean up their act, before being dumped.
NSO's raison d'être is to push malware out to unsuspecting Internet users. That is illegal is most jurisdictions (misuse of computer acts around the world), at least without a warrant, and I very much suspect the French justice system didn't give the Moroccans, for example, a warrant to tap Macron's phone.
So, yes, criminal liability.
Wow Amnesty International
doing some good stuff.
Maybe it time for an international law to say if you discover a software vulnerability you a legally obliged to report it to the software developers, and this includes those discovered by government agencies such as NSA, GCHQ who are just as guilty as NSO of using them for their own devices and not reporting them.
Is that good enough for mission-critical operations?
I've never thought that relying on AWS was good enough for things that are truly mission critical.
What's interesting is why a company peddling stuff like this actually chose to use AWS, rather than hosting their own servers. Surely they'd prioritise their own security over ease of use?
A thought when I was reading thru the details from Amnesty
I think if I was ever paranoid enough to think that I am bugged, I will do the following :
1) Primary phone will have mobile data disabled.
2) All data transfers from primary phone will go thru a mobile wifi hotspot
3) Hotspot will record all connections made by phone
4) Either hotspot will flag suspicious links / data transfers or someone(me?) has to check often to see where my phone is connecting to.
5) Check phone bills to make sure no mobile data is transfered at any time.
This assumes the telco is not involved in spying on me.
This also assumes my hotspot device is not hacked.
At the very least it makes it easy to change different hotspot devices transparently, so will make it harder for someone to hack the mobile hotspot and I will have full logs of all connections made by my phone. Even if my phone is hacked, it will not be possible to manipulate / erase logs since it will be in another device.
/Posted it wrongly in the neutron star article, my bad. :(
So they're all working with NSO
All cloud providers are working with them, knowing full well what NSO is up to and what it does.
That paints a rather bleak picture of the contrast between morals and money.
Not that that is surprising, or new.