Dictators looking to spy on the smartphones of their citizens have been able to buy access to private data for years. The companies making spyware hav

Why Southeast Asia became a spyware hotspot

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2024-05-10 04:30:05

Dictators looking to spy on the smartphones of their citizens have been able to buy access to private data for years. The companies making spyware have changed over time: FinFisher was a big player until a hack in 2014; Hacking Team took their place only to have a similar breach a year later. But no matter who’s selling them, spyware tools have remained available and they’ve remained broadly effective. For anti-spyware activists, the work is mostly pinning down specific buyers and shaming them into giving it up.

Last week, Amnesty International launched a new front in that fight with a new report calling out Indonesia’s national police and federal cybersecurity agency for stockpiling spyware. Nailing down the actual purchases meant following a wave of vendors and intermediaries, but researchers claim that the tools were being used against Indonesians.

Amnesty doesn’t name any specific targets, but the Indonesian government has no shortage of internal conflicts. The government has been implicated in long-standing violence against Indigenous groups in Papua and West Papua. Even minor protests against government projects are often met with alarming force. There’s a long list of activists and opposition leaders who could be seriously endangered by a spyware attack.