25th July 2012

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Cyber Attacks On Activists Traced To Finfisher Spyware Of Gamma
Its one of the worlds bestknown and elusive cyber weapons: FinFisher, a spyware sold by U.K.- based Gamma Group, which can secretly take remote control of a computer, copying les, intercepting Skype calls and logging every keystroke. For the past year, human rights advocates and virus hunters have scrutinized FinFisher, seeking to uncover potential abuses. They got a glimpse of its reach when a FinFisher sales pitch to Egyptian state security was uncovered after that countrys February 2011 revolution. In December, anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks published Gamma promotional videos showing how police could plant FinFisher on a targets computer. We know it exists, but weve never seen it -- you can imagine a rare diamond, says Mikko Hypponen, chief research ofcer at Helsinkibased data security company F-Secure Oyj. (FSC1V) He posted the Egypt documents online last year and said if a copy of the software itself were found, hed write antivirus protection against it. Read More gained notoriety after it was revealed that the Egyptian Governments state security apparatus had been involved in negotiations with Gamma International UK Ltd. over the purchase of the software.Promotional materials have been leakedthat describe the tools as providing a wide range of intrusion and monitoring capabilities.2Despite this, however, the toolset itself has not been publicly analyzed. Read More The video was submitted by defence lawyer Jalila Al Sayed to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court. It showed Mr Abu Dheeb addressing crowds of people outside the Education Ministry, telling them that the rallies were peaceful and asking people to be organised. Read More In a report published today, the Toronto-based Citizen Lab analyzes a FinSpy tool apparently made by Englands Gamma Group. The technology, which can bypass anti-virus systems, enables data to be siphoned from targeted computers, according to Gammas marketing materials. It can secretly take control of a users webcam and microphone, log keystrokes, copy les from the hard disk, and record voice over IP chats, instant messages, and email. Read More and irregularities and corruption prevalent in three departments belonging to the Ministries of Justice and Islamic Affairs. These are tasked with managing the funds of minors afliated to the Ministry of Justice and the Departments of Religious Endowments afliated to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Read More

How Pro-Regime Forces Use Spyware to Target Arab Spring Rebels

For most people, spam emails are nothing more than a nuisance, but for prodemocracy activists in the Middle East, they could be a matter of life and death. Amid brutal crackdowns against the Arab Spring, proregime forces have been using fake messages to install malware on activists computers that would allow them to monitor keystrokes and other activity, says

Morgan Marquis-Boire, a security researcher at the University of Torontos Citizen Lab who has been studying the issue. The Arab Spring has been touted as a digital revolution, as opposition groups have used social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to get their message across. Proponents of this move toward tech activism say the worldwide popularity of these tools helps democracy efforts by making the technology easily accessible and making it more difcult for governments to shut down. Read More

From Bahrain With Love: FinFishers Spy Kit Exposed?

Click here to read the Bloomberg News article. The FinFisher Suite is described by its distributors, Gamma International UK Ltd., as Governmental IT Intrusion and Remote Monitoring Solutions. 1 The toolset rst

Report: Alabama Gas Station Owner, Others Targeted by Government-Grade Spy Tech
It seems secret spy technology cant stay secret forever. Security researchers have found a covert government surveillance Trojan that they believe was made by a British company and was used to target the owner of Alabama gas stations and a British economics lecturer.

Video footage is screened in unrest trial of teachers

VIDEO footage was screened in the court in an appeal by Bahrain Teachers Society head Mahdi Abu Dheeb and member Jalila Al Salman, who were both jailed for their role in last year's unrest.

Corruption in Bahrain: Sunni Waqf & NAC Follow Up

Bahrain news media reported late 2011 that the National Audit Court (NAC) of Bahrain rst received by the King of Bahrain on October 28 revealed mismanagement

PineBridge Investments to establish MENA headquarters in Bahrain

PineBridge Investments, the global multi-asset class investment manager, today announced that it has received a Category 1 license from the Central Bank of Bahrain, paving the way for the establishment of its Middle East and North Africa

(MENA) headquarters in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The new rm, PineBridge Investments Middle East will cover the Legal battle over Middle East, North Africa and society polls Turkey. PineBridge currently has ofces in Dubai and AROUND 200 medical staff Istanbul. are suing the Bahrain Medical Society (BMS) amid PineBridge is an independent allegations its board elections asset manager with over US were illegal. $67 billion of assets under management for institutional The Public Prosecution is and individual clients across investigating complaints it an extensive platform of listed violated the law on political equity, xed income, and associations and the Social private equity and hedge fund Development Ministry failed to strategies. act. Read More balloons are quite similar to those used by Israel to spy on resistance forces in the occupied lands and Lebanon. In another news, the justiceseeking people of Bahrain continued their protest rallies against the ruling dictatorship. Demonstrations were held this week in the island of Sitra and different cities including Manama. Meanwhile, Bahrains supreme court adjourned the case of human rights activist Nabil Rajab to August 5. Read More "This elected board is illegal and should be dissolved," said

Dr Taha Al Durazi, who was among those who led the complaint. He said close to 200 doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians led a case at the Public Prosecution, which has begun investigating and will issue a ruling on November 30. "It seems they want to give more time to the ministry to explain whether the BMS elections were legal or not," said Dr Al Durazi. Read More

Israeli Spy Balloons against Bahrain Revolution

Bahrains interior ministry is using these balloons in the capital Manama as well as other cities and villages to maintain surveillance on peoples activities and track them. Observers say the regime has purchased the balloons equipped with high-precision cameras from the Zionist regime. They say these

Bahrainis hold antiregime protests in Sitra, Dair, Diraz

Bahraini anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in several villages to demand the release of political prisoners. The demonstrators took to the streets in the village of

Dair, located on the northern coast of the Muharraq Island, and the northwestern village of Diraz on Tuesday. A similar demonstration was also held in the northeastern island of Sitra. The Saudi-backed regime forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the demonstrators. Read More