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| Chinese surveillance targeting Uyghurs for years |
According to Lookout's latest research, Chinese-backed pirates have been following the Uighur-speaking Turkic Muslims of the country who have been living in China's Xinjiang province since 2013.
A number of new hacking tools - SilkBean, DoubleAgent, CarbonSteal and GoldenEagle - once again confirm the general status of Uyghur monitoring by the Chinese government.
Like previous Android monitoring tools, new malware can also steal sensitive data from target phones and turn these devices into listening devices.
Some hacking tools have been in use for more than five years, but Lookout has compiled them into major Chinese government spy activities, emphasizing the hectic nature of surveillance and challenging the discovery of all of these tools. .
"Our research has shown that at least eight harmful families are expected to spy on this minority, and some of them have expanded," said Christine Del Rousseau, chief security engineer at Lookout.
The Citizen Laboratory at the University of Toronto, Canada, found a bunch of malware in a 2013 report.
Over the years, cybersecurity analysts have issued similar software directives and have shown the importance of China's efforts to control Uyghurs.
Lookout activity exceeds China.
The researchers said that pirated copies were used against Uyghurs in at least 14 other countries. From Pakistan to Turkey, the Chinese authorities closely monitored travelers from Xinjiang.
The company said the case was like watching a prey hunting prey around the world, saying: "No matter where the Chinese Uighurs go, no matter where they go, whether they are in Turkey, Indonesia or Turkey, Syria has malicious programs to follow."
According to Human Rights Watch, the Chinese authorities have interviewed Xinjiang residents traveling to these countries.
Like other hackers, government-backed suspects and criminals, as well as Chinese hackers, use phishing and fake app stores instead of the official and more secure Google Play stores to spread their code.
In addition, Android phones are not the only target of attacks against Uyghurs. As Apple confirmed in September last year, the Uyghurs are the target of a variety of attacks on iPhones.
The Trump administration has tried to punish Chinese regulators using Chinese surveillance technology in Xinjiang by blacklisting it for export in October.
Several federal agencies have warned that US companies and academic institutions operating in Xinjiang, or companies that employ local workers or products, may face economic and legal risks.
With regard to (surveillance), he will continue to search for surveillance applications, Del Russo said, "There may be other activities targeting that particular group, as well as other activities that have a controversial relationship with the Chinese government." .