Tag Archives | android

All You Need To Know About The Lebanese General Security Cyber Espionage Campaign

My Facebook and Twitter feeds are infested now with news articles about the cyber espionage campaign dubbed as “Dark Caracal” involving the Lebanese Directorate of General Security, and so far I have seen all kind of comments from people who are oblivious about this revelation to others who now believe that every single Lebanese mobile phone is subject to the espionage campaign. So there you go, everything you need to know about Dark Caracal.

What?

Mobile security firm Lookout, and digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, released a report yesterday attributing a global cyber espionage campaign that they called “Dark Caracal” to the Lebanese Directorate of General Security.

The attack carried out by the hackers apparently seized control of thousands of Android phones from around 21 countries and resulted in stealing hundreds of Gigabytes. Researchers were able to gain access to one of the servers used by the hackers and found that the stolen data included: SMS Messages, Account credentials, WiFi details, Call records, Bookmarks and browsing history, Messaging apps databases (WhatsApp, Telegram…), Contacts, Installed Apps, Personal documents, Images, Voice recordings, and Listing of the phone storage content.

It is worth noting that all attacks targeted Android phones and there was no evidence of targeting iPhones. On the other hand, files stolen from personal computers included full backup images of iPhone mobiles. Moreover, I found it a bit weird that users from neither Israel nor Iran were victims to this campaign.

How?

In terms of hacking, the attackers did not utilize very sophisticated techniques to control the phones, they actually launched several campaigns that consisting of sending phishing links and fake applications to their victims in order to lure them into installing some malicious applications on their mobiles and computers which in turn uploaded their personal data to some remote server controlled by the hackers.

As to how these hackers were busted, the researchers claimed that they spotted several testing devices that were used by the hackers themselves to test their malware, and those devices had one thing in common which was a WiFi network called “Bld3F6”. Upon investigating a little, they were able to identify that this WiFi network was located very close to the General Security building in Mathaf.

When?

The researchers found that the campaign was first launched in 2012 and was still active at the time of publishing their findings.

Are we all compromised?

Certainly not. Some people made it seem like the General Security have super powers now and are able to infiltrate all our devices. If you use trusted WiFi networks, double check each link you see on the web before clicking it, and make sure to install legitimate apps only on your mobile, then you are most probably safe.

Conclusion

I have mixed thoughts about this. Is it ethical to spy on people? Definitely not, but all governments do it anyway, and assuming that the General Security is really tied to this cyber campaign then our government is no different. I’d like to believe that what they’re doing is probably protecting us from terror attacks, but I also value personal privacy and would feel outraged if I knew someone had access to my personal data…

Anyway, if you feel like reading more about Dark Caracal, you can find more details in the 49 pages report prepared by Lookout and Electronic Frontier Foundation here. One thing that I thought the report lacked was more details on how the researchers gained access to the servers utilized by the hackers, otherwise it is quite informative.

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Tag Heuer’s First Arabic Digital Watch Face by Lebanese Artist Yazan Halwani

tag-heuer-connected-arabic-watch-face-1

For the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, Tag Heuer is releasing the first Arabic watch face for their Connected smart watch and commissioned Lebanese artist Yazan Halwani to create the design (link).

The design is made of abstract Arabic calligraphy formations of the statement “Time does not wait” (Al waqt la yantazer) and it won’t be hard for you to associate the design with Yazan since he’s pretty famous for using such patterns in his murals around Beirut.

I’m not gonna lie and claim that I fell in love with with the watch face because I personally prefer the watch dial to be darker, but I still liked Yazan’s design and definitely found it cool that Tag Heuer picked a Lebanese artist to do this job.

On another note, Yazan’s choice of the statement “Time does not wait” is spot on. Arabs in general and specifically us Lebanese can be better off being punctual on things like electing a president and parliament on time, and effectively managing a garbage crisis well before it happens!

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Careem – Another cab app launched in Beirut!

Seems like it’s the cab apps day on the blog today! I was searching for similar services to Uber in the region and came across this article on the launching of Careem in Beirut.

Careem is yet another cab app that connects passengers to drivers and works exactly the same way as Uber, except that I felt like the booking process is smoother in Uber. What remains now though is knowing which one has the best fares and service.

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Careem is available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry.

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Mobile and twitter usage pattern in Lebanon

I just stumbled upon this cool website that made use of more than 280 million tweets to reveal geographic mobile and twitter usage patterns.

mobile use

The above screenshot shows the usage pattern in Beirut. But looking at Lebanon map, you can notice that most mobile twitter users are located in or around Beirut, and the majority of these people use either iPhone or Android.

Thank you Mireille

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touch cloud

touch cloud

I know I should have posted about this before, but anyway, if you develop mobile applications, then make sure to check the touch cloud, and read what is it all about in this post by Tech-Ticker.

Moreover, check PitchFest, an event organized by AltCity in collaboration with touch and Appstrata, which allows developers to present their mobile apps (or apps ideas) to a panel of judges for a chance to win $5,000 and technical support from touch cloud and Appstrata for your app to start working. The deadline to apply is tomorrow March 29th.

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