Enlarge image
Facebook blocks private surveillance companies
Photo: Johanna Geron / REUTERS
After a month-long investigation, the social media group Meta banned seven private surveillance companies that are said to have spied on almost 50,000 Internet users on Facebook and Instagram for paying clients. In addition to the news agencies Reuters and AFP, this is also reported by the British Guardian. Meta closed around 1500 user accounts on its platforms that are connected to so-called cyber mercenary companies, as the group announced on Thursday. Meta also informed around 50,000 people in more than 100 countries that they may have been targeted by such scammers.
Specialized companies would do the spying on Internet users for the "highest bidder," said Facebook security chief Nathaniel Gleicher.
"These cyber mercenaries often claim that their services are only aimed at criminals and mercenaries," Meta said.
In reality, however, the victims included journalists, critics of authoritarian regimes, families of opposition activists and human rights activists.
Four out of seven surveillance firms in Israel
Meta has now taken action against seven cyber mercenary companies.
Four of them - Cobwebs Technologies, Cognyte, Black Cube and Bluehawk CI - are based in Israel or were founded there.
The others are from India, North Macedonia and China.
According to the information, they usually proceed in three steps: First, publicly available information about the target person is collected on the Internet, for example on blogs, online platforms, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia or the websites of the media.
In the next step, contact is made with the target person through false user accounts, among other things.
The aim is to get the victims to click on links with spy software.
Scammers also steal pictures and passwords
The hackers then steal personal data such as passwords and photos and can also activate microphones and cameras on cell phones or laptops and track the movements of the target persons via geolocation.
Meta said Thursday that the investigation has uncovered new details about the way such surveillance firms allow their customers to indiscriminately gather information about people in order to manipulate them and even compromise their devices - including using fake accounts .
col / Reuters / AFP