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| Chinese hacker group targeting Uyghurs via Facebook |
Facebook announced new measures to disrupt a network of hackers living in China who are using the platform to harm the Uyghur community.
Security researchers call the group Earth Empusa, Evil Eye, or Poison Carp, and it has reached about 500 people via Facebook, including people who live in the USA, Turkey, Syria, Australia and Canada.
Hackers have used fake Facebook accounts to disguise themselves as activists, journalists, and other supporters with the goal of broadcasting their targets to hacked websites other than Facebook.
Facebook's cybersecurity and espionage team began operations in 2020 and decided to announce the threats in order to maximize the impact of the hacking organization, which has been sensitive to public disclosure in the past.
While Facebook has stated that its work on social engineering at the platform level is part of the puzzle, most of the hacking organization's work takes place elsewhere online.
Hacking groups have vowed to try to reach the target devices through various attacks including fake Android app stores that provide prayer apps and Uyghur keyboards.
Once downloaded, these fake apps use two malicious Trojans (ActionSpy and PluginPhantom) to infect the device and hackers use malware called Insomnia on iOS devices.
Although the number of users targeted by hackers is less than the number of users the company has seen during the disinformation activity, Facebook has emphasized that some carefully chosen targets can have a huge impact.
The Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim minority in China, continue to be brutally suppressed by the Chinese government, even if they are forced to live in labor camps in Xinjiang.
The company linked these malicious apps to Chinese developers, but did not link the Chinese government to the campaign.
Facebook said: This activity has the characteristics of a continuous, resource-rich operation hidden behind them. When we run out of the technical indicators we rely on, we will allow the broader security community to make those decisions.
Researchers believe these hacking activities are part of Beijing's efforts to expand surveillance of Chinese communities.