US immigration agents will have access to one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools after a decision by the Trump administration to move ahead with a contract with Paragon Solutions, a company founded in Israel which makes spyware that can be used to hack into any mobile phone – including encrypted applications.
The Department of Homeland Security first entered into a contract with Paragon, now owned by a US firm, in late 2024, under the Biden administration. But the $2m contract was put on hold pending a compliance review to make sure it adhered to an executive order that restricts the US government’s use of spyware, Wired reported at the time.
That pause has now been lifted, according to public procurement documents, which list US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) as the contracting agency.
I already know the answer to this, but I’m going to ask if anyway.
How did we go from the most paranoid group of people choosing death over vaccinations bc of government surveillance conspiracies, literally storming the capital in an uprising over false rumors, and now that we have multiple confirmations of the most insane and ongoing 1984 government surveillance programs: fucking crickets?
Because the people spreading the first conspiracy are also the people doing the second.
It’s always projection. They always assume the other side is doing what they do or plan to do. They tell on themselves years in advance.
It’s a cult.
Who think that these methods and policies will never be targeted at them because they are white and so were their grandparents.
They never cared about surveillance. If anything they want as much as possible. They just want their guys to be in charge for it. It is like how the people who use the strongest anti-child porn language are also the most likely to get caught with the worst child porn imaginable. You notice how roblox isn’t suffering under the new laws despite the laws being explicitly worded to protect children? This is because it was always about monitoring dissidents. Regular criminals will continue to use tech to do regular crime (drug dealing, murder, theft) and a minimal precaution on their end might be sufficient to prevent them from getting caught. They will not be subject to any more new restrictions.
But protesters? That is what they have always been for. Always.
Decades of stoking the rural/urban divide.
Workers are divided because rulers want them to be.
Fucking crickets is tough, wrap some tape around them first so they don’t burst.
Brainless idiots
We’re not getting out of this without rivers of blood. Sorry just being realistic
Yes. The leaders and their families will have their heads on pikes.
Just being realistic, their families expect ours to serve them.
Nothing says “we’re the good guys” like being allied with genociders and hacking people’s phones! /s
Fuck Israel. They have been a force for evil from day 1.
Fascists gonna fasc. They will continue to fasc until somebody decides they’ve had enough.
Fun fact: Americans benefited from Nazi technology after World War II as well.
I read somewhere about AL being so racists because that’s where all the Nazi scientists went who started working on the space program.
No idea if it’s true. Pretty sure the south was balls deep in slavery before that, but it does make some sense.
Can I get a pirated copy so I can finally root my motorola moto z3 running android 9 then ?
Anyone got the torrent ?It has also said it has a no tolerance policy and will cut off government clients who use the spyware to target members of civil society, such as journalists
Citizen Labs confirmed joirnalists have been targeted
Nice of The Guardian to repeat their obvious lie without immediately calling it out. This is just NSO Group 2.0. They’re moving all the engineers over because even the US was willing to sanction NSO Group after everything they did
It’s as if we lived in a very silent storm. (Thinking of that moment with Putin and Xi caught discussing how today one can live till 150 ; I don’t think Trump will last that much, but someone else from their crowd - easily.)
this just brings them on par with local LEOs. these cabinets have charging ports and run brute force attacks on pins and passcodes, at least the simplest and cheapest options do.
Yeah to hell when they’re belong freaking hypocrites always trying to silence the truth about killing in Gaza
Very surprising from the country of freedom
Thank god! Israel is our greatest ally.
When politicians say “israel is our greatest ally” they aren’t lying.
Their definition of “our” just doesn’t include us
Well well well. Isn’t it the real reason the west supports the genocide. By sending money there you can do “research” without having to worry about pesky stuff like privacy or human rights
As if anybody in the Silicon Valley worried about privacy and human rights.
Gaza is the future for America.
This is how I see it as a US citizen. Our violence is boomeranging hard which ok I don’t wish it on others but yes absolutely this is the future of the US.
You know, for those of us who are not Americans, such statements sound completely devoid of empathy, as if something could only worry you if it “were the future for America”. And it really seems a pattern. It’s as if any crime were only real for you all there if it were somehow directed against America. I’m not even talking about being tone deaf, it’s just really strange how Americans think.
that’s what i’m saying. they’ve already been tightening our restraints for decades now, and it’s only really a problem now that they need to pull the proverbial copper from the walls and do it to themselves.
i think this starts to make sense when you consider just how much nationalist propaganda they seem to be exposed to constantly, and its scary how ignorant some of them are of what happens outside their borders. and i mean ignorant, frankly some of them just seem hellbent on closing their ears and not listening to any of it. some just say heinous shit outright.
“you all” Nice.
Don’t take it literally.
such statements sound completely devoid of empathy
Only enough empathy for 330M people?
You sound like a real grade-A asshole.
It’s as if any crime were only real for you all there if it were somehow directed against America.
Less directed at than directed by. America is the premier purveyor of war crimes, ever since the Europeans fell off their game.
The violence of the empire once more turning inward is notable in the US today in the same way it was notable in France at the start of their Long Nineteenth Century or Japan during the Meiji Restoration or Russia in the October Revolution.
What starts here infests the rest of the world.
i wish. its the future of their colonies.
Exactly. It’s the canary in the coalmine.
I sure hope nobody’s carpet bombed.
Like never again
I mean, USA would probably have a better society were it carpet-bombed and then rebuilt. Or at least were it to experience a big war on its territory. Like, despite their flaws, many of the EU countries, and many others. Many of your problems are from misunderstanding dignity and strength ; war teaches you to respect the weak and to understand that it’s a sacrifice to be strong. Unfortunately that means a lot of murder, and to do a lot of murder, you pay with ever more murder. So I don’t want for that to happen, but at the same time I’m not sure if there’s even any other way to teach these things.
If only Kojima was still making metal gear games
The more things change, the more they stay the same
the west supports the genocide
You mean America. The rest of us are against this and have made policy moves against Israel.
Oh? Remind me again how many countries have even an arms embargo against Israel? Or they have any sort of penalties against them outside of completely symbolic actions done well past the time they should have been? How many of those countries is it a crime to criticize Israel in? The UK and Germany at a minimum.
Germany and the UK are the latest two that have issued arms embargos against Israel, however considering less than 0.1% of Israel’s arms come from outside America, they have little power or influence there.
How many of those countries is it a crime to criticize Israel in? The UK and Germany at a minimum.
Zero. It is not a crime to criticize Israel in either the UK or Germany. The BBC just published an article accusing them of genocide. You are spreading misinformation.
Who benefits from this misinformation?
It is in effect against the law to criticize Israel in Germany and now the uk. It is against the law to protest in the UK in effect.
Neither of these things are true. You are spreading misinformation.
The US deserves the vast majority of the blame here (along with Israel of course). The truth is though, for many in Germany and the UK including those at the highest levels of power they are if anything jealous to be missing out on the colonialism and genocide. Again, the US is absolutely the primary problem but… really? You are going to act like the US isn’t just following in the footsteps of the brutal colonial empires of England and Germany?
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday defended his characterization of Israel’s airstrikes on Iran as “dirty work,” saying his remarks received widespread support despite some criticism.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with state premiers in Berlin, Merz stood firmly behind his earlier comments that Israel was doing necessary “dirty work” for Western nations through its military actions against Iran’s nuclear program.
The truth is though, for many in Germany and the UK including those at the highest levels of power they are if anything jealous to be missing out on the colonialism and genocide.
Sounds like you’re jealous of Europe being the best place on earth for worker’s rights.
I mean, yes in so far as you can generalize, of course I am jealous of that!? You think I like being stuck at the bottom of a cruel hole lined with gold and bullet casings?
What I am saying is open your eyes to your own history and recognize it is part of the same system and process whether or not the locus of power is currently within your empire or not.
I don’t make this argument as a form of nihilistic relativism or try to rope other countries into the miserable complicity in yet another genocide the US has condemned itself too participating in. The US deserves FAR MORE blame than Germany, the UK, France or any other European country does.
My point however is, don’t lose focus of the fact that the US is a cancerous reflection of the same tendencies towards empire, fascism, ethnic cleansing and xenophobia European history is full of. US history unfolds directly out of the worst parts of European history, you cannot deny it and if you continue to do so you hamstring your capacity to understand the coming threat to Europe that will eat away at everything your society holds dear in the name of fear of terrorism and the silhouette of an immigrant threatening to join your community and become your neighbor…
Maybe if you stopped blaming all your problems on the West you’d be able to dig out of that hole.
France, Britain, Germany. All as bad as the US.
Lip service, really.
No, policy moves. Sanctions. Freezing bank accounts. Banning arms sales. Don’t buy into the anti-West propaganda.
Seriously dude, you think people are stupid? The last two years didn’t exist?
I mean I’ve just learned from another poster that “their contributions represent less than 0.1% of Israel’s total arms imports” in the first place, so it’s not like there was much power or influence we had over Israel.
They’re backed by the most powerful nation on earth. That’s all they need, they don’t need the rest of the West.
Do you know about the dutch tradition of carving little iced alcohol (grain booze, the one they call genever or bols) into little balls and to suck on them? Maybe you can try that? Sucking my bols?
Nitie nite süßer Panda xoxo
The only source I found about “Freezing bank account” is The Conversation (case in point about the lip service lmao)
https://theconversation.com/eu-sanctions-against-israel-heres-whats-on-the-table-260982
An arms embargo against Israel also appears unlikely, largely because Germany and Italy are, along with the US, Israel’s main suppliers of arms. Some European countries, including France, Spain and the UK, have either stopped the supply of weapons or suspended export licenses, but their contributions represent less than 0.1% of Israel’s total arms imports.
If saying european governements are complicit with a genocide is AnTiWesT ProPagAnDa, then yes. Fuck the west.
Here’s a random picture to close our interactions.
Good day
their contributions represent less than 0.1% of Israel’s total arms imports.
You quoted it, you posted it, I assume you read it?
I said good day
The responsibility of america is undeniable ofc they’re the main offender. But Germany still use israeli tech.
https://www.dw.com/en/german-police-secretly-bought-nso-pegasus-spyware/a-59113197
I think it’s at least part of the reason why they’re so stubbornly supporting israel, at least as much as the official wahwah about the genocide they did 80 years ago.
Germany still use israeli tech.
That article is from 2021. This is a few weeks ago:
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-suspends-arms-exports-to-israel-for-use-in-gaza/a-73569858
This is disguisting. Personally I wish for a second versaille agrement for germany after this.
But I’m biased. We shouldn’t let germany be a country imo. When I was there I learned that some actually smart germans calls for the Totale Rückverdummung (“total restupidification”) and balkanization of Germany.
I do love germans though, great people.
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I mean countries, their national governments. America is the only country that officially supports Israel. Every other country in the West has publicly criticized them, sanctioned them, banned arms sales to them. Including Germany and UK.
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They aren’t. Name one country where you think it is illegal to protest in support of Palestine, and I will debunk the misinformation for you.
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Found an article that says this software is usually in-memory only and restarting regularly will purge it (obviously you could get reinfected): ~~https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-meta-secretly-scanning-your-phones-camera-roll-check-this-setting-to-find-out/~~
Edit: wrong article, someone replied with the correct one
After I didn’t see the mentioned content I looked around Zdnet, and I think you might have meant to link this article instead:
Bad click, it happens. Good article, though. Thanks!
So weird. I don’t even remember viewing that article. Maybe it was a link just above my address bar.
Every early morning. Mine is right before my alarm goes off, so the notification sounds just meld.
Also, no one should be using biometric data to log into thier phones. 6 digit pin isn’t very obtrusive once you get used to it
worthless when there’s cameras in every corner that record as you unlock your phone all 40 times through the day
Fuck you too, buddy. You’re being recorded as you input your absurdly long password into your phone. They probably got it on camera. haha
my password? which one? I very rarely type any passwords in public… but fuck me for having forethought!
This motherfucker runs to the bathroom to unlock his phone
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6 digit pin will be broken in less than 40 minutes by a graybox. A 6-digit pin is way more vulnerable than someone who uses a 30-digit password + biometrics
edit: sorry it’s instantly in 2025 https://www.hivesystems.com/blog/are-your-passwords-in-the-green
Sure bro, put a 30 character password into your phone every time you want to find the nearest fucking coffee shop.
edit: I guess I should explain. I’m into privacy not necessarily absolute security. If a cop wants in my phone I forgot my PIN. There’s no biometric to get into it so he’s going to have to get a warrant if he wants anything to actually stick. With face ID he just holds it up to my face. With fingerprint he can force my finger onto the sensor. In the USA, don’t know about Europe.
I just needed this info out there, I don’t really care what you do - I just need to make sure Lemmy stays safe and you’re spouting leaky insecurity disguised as best practices.
Best of luck
I think I just leaked a little right now. I don’t believe you have a 30 character unlock on your phone. That doesn’t make sense on a device someone uses multiple times a day in one hand at like a bus stop or something.
And I’m no security professional, just some dumbass out in the street.
30 characters is like five words. Entirely doable. You can take your favorite TV show, sort character names by some logic and mispell a few of them to make a very strong very long password.
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On a phone. On the lock screen. Every time.
Nah, I don’t buy it.
Of course I do. FaceID allows me to input it exactly once a week, sometimes less.
What don’t you understand?
Wait, so you’re using faceid but you think you’re secure?
Are you stupid?
If you’re in the USA and a cop gets your phone they’re going to pop it onto a graybox and will be digging through your shit up to their elbows. I wish I were wrong
That’s fine. I didn’t help them.
Hope your high horse can get a job and feed your family when you lose your government career over an edgy Modern Warfare 3 chat lobby
how does my high horse feel when it’s riding over you, sub bitch?
With biometrics I only enter it once a week, at the very most. It’s insane to me that people want their phones to be less secure, but best of luck to you and your super secure TSA lock on your phone lol
'the fuck kind of biometric unlock is that? I’m actually curious what you’re using.
FaceID on an iPhone
So the cop can just use that FaceID to unlock your phone?
That’s for breaking a bcrypt hash, and I don’t believe there’s any way to extract the pin hash from a phone since it happens inside a secure hardware layer (like a TPM). If it is possible, the attacker would most likely have to physically destroy your phone to get at it. To bruteforce a 4 digit pin with retry lockout timers, it takes 16 hours to try all combinations, according to a tool I found that auto-enters pins via usb keyboard emulation.
The linked article doesn’t mention whether it can bypass the max attempt lockout or not. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but the article you linked does nothing to support your claim.
That said, an alphanumeric password is certainly more secure than a PIN, no doubt.
