#Newspaper
Over 500K Zoom accounts being sold on dark web, researchers find
//More than 500,000 accounts of the popular video conferencing app are being sold on the dark web and hacker forums...
These accounts are being sold “for less than a penny each, and in some cases, given away for free,” the report said.
//In this case, cybercriminals are employing “credential stuffing” where they try to log in to Zoom using account data such as usernames and passwords, leaked in older data breaches. If the login is successful, it is added to a list that is sold to other hackers.
//brokers are offering so-called “zero-day exploits” that hack into Zoom video sessions. A zero-day exploit takes advantage of a vulnerability in a software program that is not made public before the day it becomes active, meaning that there are, in effect, zero days to fix the problem.
//The vulnerabilities would allow hackers to break into Zoom video sessions and potentially spy on calls, according to Motherboard.
//“Zoom takes user security extremely seriously. Since learning of these rumors, we have been working around the clock with a reputable, industry-leading security firm to investigate them. To date, we have not found any evidence substantiating these claims,” a Zoom spokesperson told Fox News.
Full Article: Fox News, (16-Apr)
#Zoom #DarkWeb #Hackers #Security
Over 500K Zoom accounts being sold on dark web, researchers find
//More than 500,000 accounts of the popular video conferencing app are being sold on the dark web and hacker forums...
These accounts are being sold “for less than a penny each, and in some cases, given away for free,” the report said.
//In this case, cybercriminals are employing “credential stuffing” where they try to log in to Zoom using account data such as usernames and passwords, leaked in older data breaches. If the login is successful, it is added to a list that is sold to other hackers.
//brokers are offering so-called “zero-day exploits” that hack into Zoom video sessions. A zero-day exploit takes advantage of a vulnerability in a software program that is not made public before the day it becomes active, meaning that there are, in effect, zero days to fix the problem.
//The vulnerabilities would allow hackers to break into Zoom video sessions and potentially spy on calls, according to Motherboard.
//“Zoom takes user security extremely seriously. Since learning of these rumors, we have been working around the clock with a reputable, industry-leading security firm to investigate them. To date, we have not found any evidence substantiating these claims,” a Zoom spokesperson told Fox News.
Full Article: Fox News, (16-Apr)
#Zoom #DarkWeb #Hackers #Security
Fox News
Apps | Fox News
#Newspaper
China: Police arrest Christians participating in Zoom Easter worship service
//Christians were participating in a Zoom worship service from their homes on Easter Sunday when six leaders were arrested and detained by the Public Security Bureau.
//The 5,000-member Sichuan house church, led by pastor Wang Yi, has not been able to gather in person since the communist regime shut down the church in 2018 and arrested their pastor and other leaders. Since then, it has opted to gather online.
//At that time I was also in the Zoom call, but there was a long period of time where I did not hear a thing. I thought it’s the network connection issue at first, but I soon heard a quarrel erupt. Our co-worker Wang Jun was questioning some people, [saying], ‘Who are you to do this [to us]?
//One member’s home had its electricity cut off, while others received phone calls that “police [were] coming to visit them soon
Full Article: The Christian Post, (17-Apr)
#Christian #Church #Zoom #Surveillance #Easter #Sichuan
China: Police arrest Christians participating in Zoom Easter worship service
//Christians were participating in a Zoom worship service from their homes on Easter Sunday when six leaders were arrested and detained by the Public Security Bureau.
//The 5,000-member Sichuan house church, led by pastor Wang Yi, has not been able to gather in person since the communist regime shut down the church in 2018 and arrested their pastor and other leaders. Since then, it has opted to gather online.
//At that time I was also in the Zoom call, but there was a long period of time where I did not hear a thing. I thought it’s the network connection issue at first, but I soon heard a quarrel erupt. Our co-worker Wang Jun was questioning some people, [saying], ‘Who are you to do this [to us]?
//One member’s home had its electricity cut off, while others received phone calls that “police [were] coming to visit them soon
Full Article: The Christian Post, (17-Apr)
#Christian #Church #Zoom #Surveillance #Easter #Sichuan
The Christian Post
China: Police arrest Christians participating in Zoom Easter worship service
Several members of China’s heavily persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church were arrested by communist authorities for participating in an online Easter worship service on Zoom and ordered to cease all religious activity.
#Newspaper
Zoom closes account of US-based Chinese dissidents after Tiananmen conference
Exiled dissidents of the Tiananmen Massacre used Zoom to host a forum about Beijing’s bloody Tiananmen Square Crackdown on protesters in 1989.
The event marked the first time so many high-profile figures with direct ties to the 1989 pro-democracy movement had come together in one space. The promotion was administered through WeChat only two days before to avoid the attention of China’s authorities.
The event on May 31 saw participants dial in from China to listen to the testimonies of many people tied to the events of June 4, including those who were imprisoned, exiled, and family members of the deceased.
The account used for the forum was disabled shortly after. A statement from Zoom suggested that it had taken such action because participants who were in China at the time of the conference had violated local laws by joining. Zoom offered no further elaboration on what laws had been broken and whether Chinese authorities were involved.
This is not the first time online activism related to the event appeared to be censored by even Western internet companies.
Full Articles: SCMP, (11-Jun)
https://bit.ly/2BeWCgS
#SharpPower #FreedomOfSpeech #Censorship #Kowtow #TiananmenMassacre #Zoom
Zoom closes account of US-based Chinese dissidents after Tiananmen conference
Exiled dissidents of the Tiananmen Massacre used Zoom to host a forum about Beijing’s bloody Tiananmen Square Crackdown on protesters in 1989.
The event marked the first time so many high-profile figures with direct ties to the 1989 pro-democracy movement had come together in one space. The promotion was administered through WeChat only two days before to avoid the attention of China’s authorities.
The event on May 31 saw participants dial in from China to listen to the testimonies of many people tied to the events of June 4, including those who were imprisoned, exiled, and family members of the deceased.
The account used for the forum was disabled shortly after. A statement from Zoom suggested that it had taken such action because participants who were in China at the time of the conference had violated local laws by joining. Zoom offered no further elaboration on what laws had been broken and whether Chinese authorities were involved.
This is not the first time online activism related to the event appeared to be censored by even Western internet companies.
Full Articles: SCMP, (11-Jun)
https://bit.ly/2BeWCgS
#SharpPower #FreedomOfSpeech #Censorship #Kowtow #TiananmenMassacre #Zoom
South China Morning Post
Zoom closes account of US-based Chinese dissidents after Tiananmen conference
Participants had joined Zoom meeting from China to listen to testimonies of people targeted in 1989’s bloody June 4 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
#Newspaper
Zoom promised to be better at censoring global calls at Beijing’s request
// the US-based video-conferencing company admitted to shutting down meetings held to commemorate those who died during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in China, and suspending the accounts of two activists and Humanitarian China, a US-based organization of exiled Chinese activists at the direct request of Beijing, who said the meetings were illegal. There are no Chinese laws stipulating that activities related to the June 4 massacre are illegal, but people in China, except Hong Kong, have been banned from holding any vigils or posting words related to the incident online.
//it simultaneously chastised governments for censoring their own citizens, while pledging to improve its own censorship mechanisms to better address censorship requests from different states. It sounded a contrite note over its inability to be surgically precise in its censorship, saying it “could have anticipated this need” to “block participants by country,” which would have allowed them to keep the meetings running despite “significant repercussions.”
//the company regrets that “participants both inside and outside of China were negatively impacted and important conversations…disrupted,” but that “[i]t is not in Zoom’s power to change the laws of governments opposed to free speech.”... “for situations where local authorities block communications for participants within their borders, Zoom is developing additional capabilities that protect these conversations for participants outside of those borders.”
//Apple... came under fire for removing a Hong Kong protest app from its app store. Microsoft-owned Skype, before it was completely removed from app stores in China in 2017, also had a China-only version of its software that censored a specific list of words.
//At the core of the issue is whether those companies should uphold their American values even if that means they giving up on the lucrative China market, as Google did, or continue their operations in the country by compromising certain practices such as adopting advanced censorship systems.
Full article: Quartz, (12-Jun)
https://t.co/htwTjfFmKT
#Censorship #Zoom #SharpPower #FreedomOfSpeech #China
Zoom promised to be better at censoring global calls at Beijing’s request
// the US-based video-conferencing company admitted to shutting down meetings held to commemorate those who died during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in China, and suspending the accounts of two activists and Humanitarian China, a US-based organization of exiled Chinese activists at the direct request of Beijing, who said the meetings were illegal. There are no Chinese laws stipulating that activities related to the June 4 massacre are illegal, but people in China, except Hong Kong, have been banned from holding any vigils or posting words related to the incident online.
//it simultaneously chastised governments for censoring their own citizens, while pledging to improve its own censorship mechanisms to better address censorship requests from different states. It sounded a contrite note over its inability to be surgically precise in its censorship, saying it “could have anticipated this need” to “block participants by country,” which would have allowed them to keep the meetings running despite “significant repercussions.”
//the company regrets that “participants both inside and outside of China were negatively impacted and important conversations…disrupted,” but that “[i]t is not in Zoom’s power to change the laws of governments opposed to free speech.”... “for situations where local authorities block communications for participants within their borders, Zoom is developing additional capabilities that protect these conversations for participants outside of those borders.”
//Apple... came under fire for removing a Hong Kong protest app from its app store. Microsoft-owned Skype, before it was completely removed from app stores in China in 2017, also had a China-only version of its software that censored a specific list of words.
//At the core of the issue is whether those companies should uphold their American values even if that means they giving up on the lucrative China market, as Google did, or continue their operations in the country by compromising certain practices such as adopting advanced censorship systems.
Full article: Quartz, (12-Jun)
https://t.co/htwTjfFmKT
#Censorship #Zoom #SharpPower #FreedomOfSpeech #China
Quartz
Censorship from Beijing is one more reason for you to worry about using Zoom
People were already uneasy about Zoom. Then it quietly suspended an account used by Chinese dissidents in exile who organized a Tiananmen event.
Zoom cuts off activist's accounts at the behest of the Chinese government
Suspending meetings that commemorate Tiananmen Square massacre and shutting down host activists’ accounts, Zoom admitted conforming to China’s demands to cut “illegal” activities, despite the meetings were held outside Chinese boarder.
Unlike other Western social media, Zoom is not blocked in China. Zoom's alarming behavior raise the question of it bowing to Chinese pressure, if not being a puppet platform at all. Several activists on Chinese issues based in US and Hong Kong shared their experience with Zoom and expressed their frustration upon being shut down.
In response, Zoom stated that the action was due to their inability to ban users based on their location and they are working on the function to comply with local authorities on their regulations. It continued to clarify that they did not provide any meeting content or user information to the Chinese government.
Zoom’s quibble however failed excusing itself from condemnation from lawmakers and human right groups, and US senators demanded it to pick a side between free-speech and censorship. While the intentions of Zoom are unclear, its deeply entangled relationship with China - through capital and intelligence - should alert the public enough about potential security risks.
#CyberSecurity #Zoom #CCP #censorship #FreedomofSpeech
Source:
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/12/zoom-admits-cutting-off-activists-accounts-in-obedience-to-china?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true
Further reading:
Zoom promised to be better at censoring global calls at Beijing’s request
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/22601
Zoom closes account of US-based Chinese dissidents after Tiananmen conference
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/22600
Suspending meetings that commemorate Tiananmen Square massacre and shutting down host activists’ accounts, Zoom admitted conforming to China’s demands to cut “illegal” activities, despite the meetings were held outside Chinese boarder.
Unlike other Western social media, Zoom is not blocked in China. Zoom's alarming behavior raise the question of it bowing to Chinese pressure, if not being a puppet platform at all. Several activists on Chinese issues based in US and Hong Kong shared their experience with Zoom and expressed their frustration upon being shut down.
In response, Zoom stated that the action was due to their inability to ban users based on their location and they are working on the function to comply with local authorities on their regulations. It continued to clarify that they did not provide any meeting content or user information to the Chinese government.
Zoom’s quibble however failed excusing itself from condemnation from lawmakers and human right groups, and US senators demanded it to pick a side between free-speech and censorship. While the intentions of Zoom are unclear, its deeply entangled relationship with China - through capital and intelligence - should alert the public enough about potential security risks.
#CyberSecurity #Zoom #CCP #censorship #FreedomofSpeech
Source:
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/12/zoom-admits-cutting-off-activists-accounts-in-obedience-to-china?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true
Further reading:
Zoom promised to be better at censoring global calls at Beijing’s request
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/22601
Zoom closes account of US-based Chinese dissidents after Tiananmen conference
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/22600
the Guardian
Zoom admits cutting off activists' accounts in obedience to China
Meetings on Tiananmen Square massacre and Hong Kong crisis were taken down because Communist government complained
#Newspaper
In Hong Kong, a Proxy Battle Over Internet Freedom Begins
//The technological Cold War between China and the United States is playing out on various fronts around the world. The trade war ensnared Chinese tech giants like #Huawei and ZTE while American companies complain of industrial policies that favor Chinese businesses. Digital controls in China have also kept companies like Google and Facebook from operating in mainland China.
//Hong Kong emerges as the front line in a global fight between the United States and China over censorship following the introduction of a draconian new security law that mandates police censorship, surveillance and can be applied to online speech across the world.
//Caught in the middle are the city’s seven million residents, online records of political debate which may now be illegal and the world’s largest internet companies which host and guard that data.
//Many big companies including #Facebook, #Google #Twitter, #Zoom, and #LinkedIn have already stated that they would temporarily stop complying with requests for user data from the Hong Kong authorities, which has amounted to over 7000 in the second half of 2019 because of protests. The police have also made numerous requests to have Google remove sensitive posts, to which Google said no.
//The Hong Kong government has responded by emphasizing the penalty for non-compliance. Based on the law, the Hong Kong authorities can dictate the way people around the world talk about the city’s politics, and employees of companies that failed to hand over user data could be arrested.
//Several local apps associated with the protest movement have already shut down. People have begun to delete their social media accounts, switched to using encrypted chat apps like Signal, and embraced coded online speech that flourishes on the heavily monitored internet of China.
//Companies, meanwhile, have the option of shifting data away from Hong Kong but it is by no means an easy task. Moving all employees out of the city would insulate firms from arrests, but it may not be feasible.
//The looming legal fights could determine whether the city falls behind China’s digital Iron Curtain or becomes a hybrid where online speech and communications are selectively policed.
The Cold War between the US and //China continues on the other hand as the US moves to ban Chinese apps that are seen as potential threats to national security.
Full Article: The New York Times
https://nyti.ms/32WaXuP
Further reading:
“Zero logs” VPN exposes millions of logs including user passwords, claims data is anonymous
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/ufo-vpn-data-exposure/
#coldwar #internetsecurity #censorship
In Hong Kong, a Proxy Battle Over Internet Freedom Begins
//The technological Cold War between China and the United States is playing out on various fronts around the world. The trade war ensnared Chinese tech giants like #Huawei and ZTE while American companies complain of industrial policies that favor Chinese businesses. Digital controls in China have also kept companies like Google and Facebook from operating in mainland China.
//Hong Kong emerges as the front line in a global fight between the United States and China over censorship following the introduction of a draconian new security law that mandates police censorship, surveillance and can be applied to online speech across the world.
//Caught in the middle are the city’s seven million residents, online records of political debate which may now be illegal and the world’s largest internet companies which host and guard that data.
//Many big companies including #Facebook, #Google #Twitter, #Zoom, and #LinkedIn have already stated that they would temporarily stop complying with requests for user data from the Hong Kong authorities, which has amounted to over 7000 in the second half of 2019 because of protests. The police have also made numerous requests to have Google remove sensitive posts, to which Google said no.
//The Hong Kong government has responded by emphasizing the penalty for non-compliance. Based on the law, the Hong Kong authorities can dictate the way people around the world talk about the city’s politics, and employees of companies that failed to hand over user data could be arrested.
//Several local apps associated with the protest movement have already shut down. People have begun to delete their social media accounts, switched to using encrypted chat apps like Signal, and embraced coded online speech that flourishes on the heavily monitored internet of China.
//Companies, meanwhile, have the option of shifting data away from Hong Kong but it is by no means an easy task. Moving all employees out of the city would insulate firms from arrests, but it may not be feasible.
//The looming legal fights could determine whether the city falls behind China’s digital Iron Curtain or becomes a hybrid where online speech and communications are selectively policed.
The Cold War between the US and //China continues on the other hand as the US moves to ban Chinese apps that are seen as potential threats to national security.
Full Article: The New York Times
https://nyti.ms/32WaXuP
Further reading:
“Zero logs” VPN exposes millions of logs including user passwords, claims data is anonymous
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/ufo-vpn-data-exposure/
#coldwar #internetsecurity #censorship
NY Times
In Hong Kong, a Proxy Battle Over Internet Freedom Begins (Published 2020)
As the city grapples with new restrictions on online speech, American tech giants are on the front line of a clash between China and the United States over the internet’s future.
Federal prosecutors accuse Zoom executive of working with Chinese government to surveil users and suppress video calls
A security executive of Zoom Xinjiang Jin worked with the Chinese government to terminate Americans’ accounts and disrupt video calls about the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square, Justice Department prosecutors said Friday.
Zoom is California-based company and worth more than $100 billion
Prosecutors said that Jin worked as Zoom’s primary liaison with Chinese law enforcement and intelligence services, sharing user information and terminating video calls at the Chinese government’s request. Also, he monitored Zoom’s video system for discussions of political and religious topics deemed unacceptable by China’s ruling Communist Party, the complaint states, and he gave government officials the names, email addresses and other sensitive information of users, even those outside China.
Source: Washington Post #Dec18
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/18/zoom-helped-china-surveillance/
#Zoom #InternetCensorship #CCP #ChinaPoverty
A security executive of Zoom Xinjiang Jin worked with the Chinese government to terminate Americans’ accounts and disrupt video calls about the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square, Justice Department prosecutors said Friday.
Zoom is California-based company and worth more than $100 billion
Prosecutors said that Jin worked as Zoom’s primary liaison with Chinese law enforcement and intelligence services, sharing user information and terminating video calls at the Chinese government’s request. Also, he monitored Zoom’s video system for discussions of political and religious topics deemed unacceptable by China’s ruling Communist Party, the complaint states, and he gave government officials the names, email addresses and other sensitive information of users, even those outside China.
Source: Washington Post #Dec18
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/18/zoom-helped-china-surveillance/
#Zoom #InternetCensorship #CCP #ChinaPoverty
Former Chinese Staff of Zoom Wanted by FBI for Monitoring and Sabotaging Video Conferences Concerning the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre and Hong Kong Protests
A former Chinese staff of Zoom, a video conference software company, was charged by federal prosecutors from the US Department of Justice on December 18th for sabotaging and disrupting video conferences concerning the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre. The staff was a 39-year-old man named Xinjiang Jin who was based in China. Jin and his associates had allegedly sent IP addresses and email addresses of the video conference participants, as well as conference passwords and other sensitive data directly to Chinese law enforcement agencies. FBI also revealed case-related emails indicating Jin was monitoring conferences for China, including those related to Hong Kong protests. Jin is currently wanted by the FBI.
#US #China #Zoom #FBI #XinjiangJin #June4th #TiananmenSquareMassacre #HongKongProtest
Source: Stand News #Dec19
https://bit.ly/3pLdIra
A former Chinese staff of Zoom, a video conference software company, was charged by federal prosecutors from the US Department of Justice on December 18th for sabotaging and disrupting video conferences concerning the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre. The staff was a 39-year-old man named Xinjiang Jin who was based in China. Jin and his associates had allegedly sent IP addresses and email addresses of the video conference participants, as well as conference passwords and other sensitive data directly to Chinese law enforcement agencies. FBI also revealed case-related emails indicating Jin was monitoring conferences for China, including those related to Hong Kong protests. Jin is currently wanted by the FBI.
#US #China #Zoom #FBI #XinjiangJin #June4th #TiananmenSquareMassacre #HongKongProtest
Source: Stand News #Dec19
https://bit.ly/3pLdIra