Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt criticized of copying cybercrime law from Saudi Arabia, Al Ahram newspaper stated.

Activists in Facebook and Twitter criticized the draft which contains 13 articles dealing with cybercrime and cyber related issues. FJP even left the word “Kingdom” in article 12 of the draft which is related to “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and irrelevant to Egypt. They also changed the fine from SR to Egyptian Pounds!

In addition to political controversy related to Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, their aim to monopolize everything in the country even regulation will backfire. Instead of drafting real cybercrime law that deal with cybercrime types, investigation procedures, and international cooperation, they insist on playing the same “repression game” with different rules!

Mubarak regime used online censorship and surveillance technology to monitor the internet for political issues and crack down on activists. Now, Muslim Brotherhood with their ruling Islamic party and their majority in parliament want to ban “Porn websites” which will be the first step to block anything against their ideology “In the name of religion”.

The “hacked” Saudi “Anti-Cybercrime law” or their “special cybercrime system” is not considered complete cybercrime law as I investigated in my latest research. It lacks privacy articles, freedom of speech, and there are no specific producers to investigate such crimes. The law doesn’t include any definition of cybercrime and cyber related crimes and there is also inconsistency between many articles. According to this law, many online activities could be treated as cybercrime due to definitions dilemma. I think that definitions might be intentionally ignored to expand government power over many online activities. But how could you investigate a crime if you’re not able to write the correct definition?

If Muslim Brotherhood were willing to draft complete work, they’d have reviewed “Council of Europe” convention on Cybercrime and UN ESCWA project. But “hacking” is much easier than engineering!

Their dream of the so called “Caliphate” in the 21^st Century will make them think of suppressing people instead of making them aware of real threats. This type of “Repression” won’t work in cyber age where everything is possible with just few clicks.

The controversial cybercrime draft is nothing but another failure of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Since history is a mirror to the future, we will take a look at “Cold War” era and its effect on Middle East region in order to understand how “Cold Cyberwar” would affect us sooner or later.

Cold War era

There were two major players in “Cold War” the US and former USSR (Russia). The US led western world and the Soviet Union led the communist world. the US and Soviet Union were staring each other down and kept their allied States from causing major wars even when involved in localized military actions. Although the US and USSR didn’t want to introduce the nuclear weapons into conflict, they changed the geopolitical map across the world.

Cold War might be considered “Cold” between US and USSR but it was “hot” in other States because these two superpowers fueled conflicts through proxies in Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe to apply their ideologies and agendas. Middle East region was important battleground to superpowers in “Cold War” and affected with conflicts between US and Soviet Union that shaped the new Middle East geopolitical map due to natural resources and oil in particular. For example, Egypt as the heart of the Middle East transformed loyalty from the USSR to the US in the middle of the Cold War “from Suez crisis to Camp David Accords” which could be considered the root of most Middle East political, economic, and religious conflicts.

The fall of Soviet Union officially ended the “Cold War” and left world map with new borders, allied forces, new superpowers, and new phenomena such as the so called “War on Terror” to fabricate a new US enemy. Even Policymakers in the US may consider “War on Terror” as comparable to “Cold War”, but it doesn’t seem to be true!

Tension and arming race between US and USSR during “Cold War” era resulted in advancements in science and technology which later shaped the 2^nd half of the 20^th century and introduced Space Race, Atomic Energy, Satellite technology, ICBMs, and finally “Information Age”.

Cyberspace Era

Cyberspace is widely considered new battlefield in addition to Land, Sea, Air, and Space. Cyberwarfare won’t be science fiction due to cyber conflicts, cyber intelligence, digital espionage, cyber terrorism, and other related cyber attacks. Although global powers struggle moved to the Internet, the advantage always lies with those who take the offense.
Many governments around the world started to realize the importance of cyberspace and tried to control it and utilize it in many ways from open source intelligence to surveillance. Let’s see how major players are dealing with cyberspace.

In 2010 UK Government considered threats from cyberspace a tier one priority as a genuine threat to national security. The published Strategic Defence and Security Review stated that “The Government will introduce a transformative national cyber security programme to close the gap between the requirements of a modern digital economy and the rapidly growing risks associated with cyber space. The National Cyber Security Programme will be supported by £650 million of new investment over the next four years, working to one national programme of activity with supporting strategies in other departments”.

Government of France stated that cyberspace is one of its areas of sovereignty as published in Frances’ Strategy document. There is also a leaked plan of Open Source Spying for French Military Strategy.

In January 2012 The United States announced in a US military document that US intended to treat cyberspace as a military battleground. US government may launch missiles and start military actions if attacked on cyberspace and the same thing declared by Israel..!

Richard A. Clarke, in his book “Cyberwar: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do about It”, he talks about the new weaponry of war. Wars used to be waged with steel, then firearms, and eventually nuclear weapons. Today’s stealth new weapons include hackers, bots, denial of service attacks and censorship policies.

As a sign of real Cyberwar, A former US intelligence official said that Stuxnet which infected Iran’s centrifuges in Natanz was implanted by an Israeli proxy- an Iranian, who used a memory stick. I stated before in one of my earlier reports that physical access is needed to infect the SCADA system in Iranian nuclear facility and that wouldn’t be possible without double agent.

Israel is also very active in cyberspace and has special Cyberwarfare capabilities, and they are preparing their own “Cyber Defenders” unit or (C4I-command, control, communications, computers and intelligence) which is part of IDF.

China is one of the big players in cyberspace weaponry as stated by many sources and documented by evidences. “In today’s information age, the People’s Republic of China has replaced and even improved upon KGB methods of industrial espionage to the point that the People’s Republic of China now presents one of the most capable threats to U.S. technology leadership and by extension its national security”, stated Dan Verton, Cyber Warfare Expert.

One of the latest congressional reports revealed that “Chinese capabilities in computer network operations have advanced sufficiently to pose genuine risk to U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict”. The complete report can be downloaded from this link.

An interesting story published by the guardian claims that the U.S. Departments of Defense and State, along with their Chinese counterparts, held two secret Cyberwar games last year that “were designed to help prevent a sudden military escalation between the sides if either felt they were being targeted.” The Guardian says that another is being planned for next May.

Finally, senior security figures have confirmed that Chinese spies hacked into computers belonging to BAE systems, Britain’s biggest defense company, to steal details about the design, performance, and electronic systems of the west’s latest fighter jet. Related video by NTDTV was published on the Internet.

The rising controversy over Chinese tech giant Huawei and their linkage to surveillance, espionage, and military ties allows politicians to politicize the issue and ban the company from getting government contracts in US, Australia, and the UK.

While both United States and China have all advanced technology in place to start Cyberwar, they will not use their destructive capabilities as it could have impact on both sides. This situation is the same as it was between US and Soviet Union in Cold War era. I believe that US and China will start to build their own allies and share cyber security expertise. One obvious example is the alliance of “Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran” vs. “US, NATO, and Israel”. Additional Nation States are moving forward to enter the Cyberwarfare era such as Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

In the Middle East there are no countries with Cyberwarfare capabilities except Iran which invests heavily in offensive and defensive capabilities in cyberspace. Surfaced news also reported that Iran used Cyber warfare capabilities to down US stealth drone.

Although there are many cyber attacks originated from within Middle East countries especially during Arab uprising, it shouldn’t be categorized under Cyberwar actions. These cyber attacks are considered “Hacktivism” rather than Cyberwarfare.

While the world is gearing up for Cyberwar and prepare for cyber conflicts in 21^st century, Middle East countries still struggle with “Cybercrime legislation, cyber criminals, freedom of speech and information, mainstream media, and other globalization issues”.

History lessons tell us that not only Soviet Union was the loser of cold war, but also Middle East countries have been losers in post-cold war era and in the age of globalization. MENA Countries allied with the Soviet Union or US have lost their control over their resources through new re-colonization methods.

Instead of military actions, today’s superpowers will write malicious codes! 

Reports by “Panda Security” claim that half of all computers worldwide are infected with malware.  Although this data doesn’t seem accurate, infection rates worldwide are high and increasing annually. According to Microsoft Threat Assessment, Middle East is suffering from much higher rates of malware infection than other regions in the world.

Studying Microsoft Threat Assessment will give us more details on malware infections in the Middle East region. Types of infections will let us understand the vulnerabilities in the region and their linkage to cybercrime.

Algeria

Adware in Algeria seems to be the highest rate with 38.7% of all infected computers. Worms comes next with 36% of infection rate.

Bahrain

In Bahrain worms come first with 40.5% of all computers, and then come Trojans with 34.6% of infection rate.

Egypt

Viruses come first in Egypt with 32.3% of all computers then come worms with 31.6% of infection rate.

Iraq

Worms are common in Iraq with high infection rates at 36.4% of all computers, and then come Trojans with 29.9% of all computers.

Jordan

Worms is the highest infection rate in Jordan with 38.6% of all computers. Trojans is the second infection rate with 35.1% of all computers.

Kuwait

Trojans come first in Kuwait with 36.3% of all computers were infected. Worms come next with 28.9% of affected computers.

Lebanon

Worms is highest infection rate in Lebanon with 37.3% of all computers. Unwanted software which might include harmful adware, spyware, and dialers come next in Lebanon with 33.7% of all computers affected. 33.2% of all computers are also infected with Trojans.

Morocco

Worms is the highest infection rate in Morocco with 41.2% of all affected computers.

Oman

Worms come first in Oman with 42.7% of all computers infected with malware. Trojans found also with high infection rate at 34.7% of all computers affected.

Palestine

Trojans affected 40.9% of all computers in Palestinian Authority, and the come Worms with high infection rate at 36.6% of all computers.

Qatar

Worms come first at high infection rates in Qatar with 42.7% of all affected computers then Adware with 28.7%. Trojans are also found at high infection rates with 24.4% of all computers.

Saudi Arabia

Trojans affected 37.3% of all infected computers in Saudi Arabia, and then comes Potentially Unwanted Software (PUS) with 29.5% of all computers. Worms are also found at high rates with

Syria

Potentially Unwanted Software comes first with 37.6% of all infected computers. Trojans are found at high rate with 36.7% of all computers in addition to worms which affected 34.2% of all infected computers in Syria.

Tunisia

Adware in Tunisia infected 54.3% of all computers affected with malware. PUS comes next with 32.2% of all affected computers in addition to worms with infection rate at 27.6%.

UAE

Worms affected 36.2% of all computers infected with malware in UAE. Adware comes next with infection rate at 29.9% in addition to PUS at 27.3% of all infected computers.

Important facts:

Egypt is the most “Virus” infected nation in the Middle East. Higher rates of virus infections might be linked to high rate of “Pirated software” used by computer users in Egypt.

Most Middle East countries outpaced the rest of the world when it comes to infections of “Worms, Viruses, Trojans, and Adware”. The below chart shows infections in Egypt as an example:

Worms are also common infection in Middle East countries. Higher infection rates of worms can be used in DDoS attacks and Middle East ICT infrastructure can be used to conduct an organized cyber attack against other nations’ ICT infrastructure. Estonian case was one of the obvious examples which Egypt was involved in such attack!

Lack of cyber security capabilities and poor regulations are common factors in the region which make it vulnerable to cyber attacks. Trojan infection for example can be used to steal information from banks’ customers and Credit Cards data.

Potentially Unwanted Software, Adware, and Spyware infections might refer to poor security awareness among Middle East users. The fast growing numbers of Internet subscribers and mobile phone users will result in more infections and cybercrime cases to hit the region.

All malware infections are cyber crimes, but not all cyber crimes are caused by malware.

ICTs investments in MENA countries are overtaking the rest of the world but they didn’t improve their cyber legislation systems. Cybercrime in the region is rising alarmingly and there no efforts to tackle this phenomenon. Lack of legislative and technical capabilities are common factors in most Middle East countries along with poor security awareness and education. I’m delighted to introduce my latest research to address these latest cybercrime issues in the region. This research includes extensive study for Internet penetration in MENA, country by country assessment, legal frameworks, and challenges facing legislators in the region.

Download your FREE copy

My Publications

Last week Saudi hacker who identified himself as a member of an anonymous network called XP-group has leaked 400.000 Israeli credit card numbers in one file containing personal information.

The hacker claimed that he hacked the “ONE” sports website and gained the credit card numbers by manipulating the database. He redirected visitors to a site where they could download the file containing the leaked credit card numbers, expiration dates, security codes and victims’ names, addresses, and mobile numbers etc.

The hacker wrote “It will be so fun to see 400,000 Israelis stand in line outside banks and offices of credit card companies to complain that their cards had been stolen. To see banks shred 400,000 cards and reissue them. To see that Israeli cards are not accepted around the world, like the Nigerian cards”

There is an ongoing investigation for this breach. While most of the Israelis whose names appeared in the leaked file confirmed they contained their actual addresses and phone numbers, the majority said the credit card details were false, according to many sources.

The attack itself is nothing more than a cybercrime committed by someone or group of hackers who might be from Saudi Arabia or even from other state. There is no evidence to tell that this attack originated from Saudi Arabia or conducted by Saudi hacker at least at this moment.

But there is an interesting part of the story to unfold…

Cybercrime and Political Propaganda!

The Israeli reaction:

“Tel Aviv says it will treat cyber attacks as acts of terror. It has also commended the US, who has hinted at retaliating for such assaults with military action.”  Said Deputy Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon in a speech, adding that Israel had not yet ruled out the possibility that the hacking had been carried out by a group “more organized and sophisticated … than a lone youth”.

On the other side, we can see the Palestinian reaction:

Hamas described this attack as “a new form of resistance”

“We urge Arab youth to ignore these cowardly Israeli threats and to use all means available in the virtual space to confront Israeli crimes,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in Gaza.

The New War on Terror

It is obvious that Middle East countries are the biggest losers in the so called “Global War on Terrorism” due to religious conflicts, low quality of education, illiteracy, poverty, corruption, and other geo-political vulnerabilities that can be exploited by western powers!

Middle East is also vulnerable when it comes to cyber arena. There are no real capabilities of cyber war in the region, except Iran. No country in the region is able to prevent sophisticated infrastructure cyber attack and in some cases, they won’t be able to detect!

The fragility of ICT infrastructure in MENA, poor education, lack of security awareness programs, poor legislations, and inability of law enforcements to investigate sophisticated crimes are common vulnerabilities among MENA countries.

There are different kinds of expertise in the region related to IT and security but this will not be effective until governments understand the importance of building national capabilities.

It is important for governments and policymakers in MENA to consider physical and logical capabilities when it comes to cyberspace and Cybercrime.

Cyber attacks might lead to a declaration of military attack.

The Israeli official quoted the Pentagon’s document regarding “Cyber Terror” as quoted also in WSJ earlier in 2011 that an unnamed US military official said “If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks.”

The pentagon’s document concluded that sever harm caused by cyber attack on national infrastructure like SCADA systems, oil, chemical sector, economy, could trigger a military response.

The biggest challenge is “How the US and other western countries will be able to pinpoint the source of the attack?” with millions of vulnerable machines worldwide and the availability of anonymizers and open virtual private networks, any investigation will be useless. In addition hackers and cybercriminals are able to make the attack look like it’s coming from multiple countries. Which country will be responsible for this type of attack?

I think we are moving forward to unjust wars “The New War on Cyber Terrorism”

During the last two years I have been talking about Middle East regimes and their relations with western companies that provided them with Hi-Tech repression tools. With evidences collected during Arab uprisings we started to understand that there is multibillion-dollar market between western companies and oppressive regimes in MENA. My latest article explained how Arab dictators used these tools to track, hack, and kill innocent people. But it seems that this is not the end of the story…!

Wikileaks released the long-awaited leak of the year (THE SPY FILES)

“Who here has an iPhone? Who here has a Blackberry?” asked Julian Assange at a press conference in London. “Who uses Gmail? Well, you’re all screwed.” 

All these services are selling details to mass surveillance companies across world, he said. Assange also said that”Right now, no banking transaction on the internet can be considered secure”.

Police and intelligence services can “take over computers without the help or knowledge of the telecommunication providers,” said a WikiLeaks statement. “Users’ physical location can be tracked if they are carrying a mobile phone, even if it is only on standby.”

The Spy Files Portal published 287 file so far and still hundreds to come!
It includes Catalogues, brochures, manuals, presentations, contracts, and papers for all kind of surveillance and spying tools that are used around the world and also by Arab dictators!

The following map represents valuable data for those looking to understand the origin of specific software from specific country around the world. It is also called:
“The United Nations of Surveillance”

This huge leak requires extensive study and research for each document and links it with the events on current Geo-political map. I can’t really think of spying and surveillance tools without keeping politics in mind..!

The followings are fast findings and highlights for Middle East links:

Egypt

GAMMA Group software (Arabic)
GAMMA Group (German)
Israeli Technology Monitors Egypt’s Cell Phone (NARUS)
Vendor(s): GAMMA

Libya

A Guide to Libya’s Surveillance Network
listening in on Libya
Gaddafi Surveillance
Vendor(s): AMESYS : VASTECH

Tunisia

Microsoft aided Ben Ali’s regime! (Wikileaks cable)

Bahrain

Vendor(s): Bluecoat : TROVICOR : GAMA
Nokia Siemens helps Bahrain
BBC Radio (Government Spies on People in Bahrain)

Iran

Vendor(S): CREATIVITY  : ERICSSON : TROVICOR

OMAN

Vendor(S): GAMMA

Qatar

Vendor(s): Bluecoat  : NETSWEEPER
Aiding repression or just doing business?

Saudi Arabia

Vendor(s): GAMMA

Syria

Vendor(s): AREA – UTIMACO – QOSMOS – BLUECOAT – SEIMENS

UAE

Vendors: BLUECOAT – NETSWEEPER – SS8 (Wikileaks Cable source)
(Spy Files)

Yemen

Vendors: NETSWEEPER – GAMMA

It looks like this industry booming after 9/11 and at the beginning of War on Terror. Western companies sold surveillance and spying tools especially to Middle East as an effective technical weapon against terrorists. Since western governments wanted the dictators to be part of the game, they supplied them with surveillance and spying technology.

When the so called “Global War on Terrorism” started to bankrupts, dictators and their tools started to fall and new maps begin to unfold..!

Governments around the world are spying on their people. This act is well-known in the Middle East by oppressive regimes but now it is obvious that all governments are doing it. People believe that their government is using Internet surveillance technology but they don’t understand how they use it, what they get, and which tools are they using.

If you live in a country ruled by a dictator, you should understand that surveillance is a daily routine for law enforcements without any warrant!

I stated in one of my latest articles about “Lawful Interception” that western companies offer special surveillance and hacking tools to oppressive regimes in Middle East. Instead of using these tools to protect their cyber and physical security, they use it to hack their people!

But do you know how your government is spying on you? What tools are they using?

The Wall Street Journal published the so called “Surveillance Catalogue” which contains leaked brochures from secret conference for surveillance and security in Washington DC. I mentioned this conference before which is “ISS World” for sure!
Checking sponsors link on their website will give you a clue of what’s inside.

In order to understand what these western countries are offering to our oppressive regimes, you need to carefully browse and study the leaked brochures on WSJ website.

There are many interesting findings in the leaked brochures which I will highlight as follows:

GAMMA Group

This company seems like the best choice for Middle East governments when it comes to hacking, surveillance, and interception. It is the only company which offers Arabic brochures!

It is the same company which supplied Mubarak’s regime with hacking and intrusion tools known as FinFisher and FinSpy. The company offers full hacking and intrusion package with training for law enforcement and intelligence. 

From what Middle East countries did during Arab uprising, we can easily tell that these tools by GAMMA were extensively used. Let’s see the scenarios found on their brochures and link them to what governments did…

Tunisian government used special web code to hack into users’ accounts on facebook, hotmail, yahoo and other networks. That was done using crafted JavaScript code on fake login pages. According to FINFLY WEB tool brochures, that this tactic can easily be implemented since the government has a centralized ISP in which this tool can be used!

Government can infect websites with malicious code and they can target specific user or even the entire network by implementing the infection code through the ISP. Any user will use the ISP to connect to “Facebook” for example will be infected with the malicious monitoring code!!! 

Government can also use the full package to integrate ISP infection, web infection, and hacking through malicious software update.

Mubarak’s regime used FINSPY to target specific users using their “User names” provided by their ISP. All ISPs in Egypt and most Middle East countries provided their users with dynamic IPs with “User names and password” for easy identification. While the IP is changing each time user restarted the router, it can still be identified using the “User name”!

The FINSPY solution that is used by Egyptian government can infect and remote control any target, anywhere around the world as claimed by GAMMA group. This tool can also bypass 40 regularly tested antiviruses and can silently open your webcam and microphone!

The FINSPY MOBILE can be used the same way to hack into mobile phones and extract evidences, data, and even record voice and video!

According to the FINSPY MOBILE brochure, it was successfully used with BlackBerry mobiles…
This scenario reminds us of what Etisalat has done with users in UAE!

This hacking technique depends on infecting the mobile software with malicious code using MMS, SMS, UMTS or Wi-Fi. They trick the user to open the MMS or other configuration files as it looks like “system update” or “critical software update”. Once open, the backdoor is installed and everything on your phone could be accessed and monitored.

In Most Arab countries Skype are used by internet users to conduct cheap or free voice communications with applied encryption to avoid government surveillance. But GAMMA Company claimed that their FINFISHER tool can intercept and monitor Skype conversations. The leaked documents reveal that this capability doesn’t depend on cracking the encryption. The whole process depends on infecting the target computer with malicious code or Trojan created by FINFISHER tool which could be able to intercept the conversation on “Sender’s PC” before it is being encrypted or on “Receiver’s PC” after it is being decrypted as shown in the following diagram provided by WSJ.

Manufacturers of such tools always claim that they are aware of export laws and also make sure that their software will not be abused by authoritarian regimes. But what is really happening is that these companies are extensively selling to Middle East regimes that use these technologies to repress their people and invade their privacy without any warrant!
They said it is a moral dilemma and we can’t control how our software is being abused by law enforcements. It is like a knife!

Deciphering Speech

One company offered a very interesting solution that can decipher speech in any language and analyze voices when intercepted. The software can determine which words are being said, what topics and in some cases who is talking!

Other companies are offering language analyses even in Arabic. But it looks challenging when it comes to Arabic as one word might have several meanings and might change according to the sequence of the speech as well.

Hacking and Vulnerabilities

Other companies offer hacking platforms for law enforcements that might look like “Metasploit” but with extensive functionalities. Most tools depend on exploiting unpatched software vulnerabilities or even trick the user to install fake update to infect the target PC. “HackingTeam” is one of those companies that offer full hacking and monitoring platform for law enforcement and intelligence. According to the leaked document, this platform can be deployed on any platform from Windows to BlackBerry. The created malware can bypass antivirus, firewall, and antispyware! 

There are many other companies that offer large number of tools that can be used by your government to intercept communication, trace your location, hack into your system, and even analyze your speech. One obvious example is Netoptics the company behind Chinese mobile phone tracking and surveillance systems. They offer solutions for major mobile operator to conduct real-time monitoring of cell phone internet contents. This act is not legal in USA for example without court warrant but it is legal in china!

So it is really a big dilemma when you talk about the law and the usage of such tools.

From what we found in these leaked documents and brochures, we can understand that it is a new big market for private western companies to sell their “double edged weapons”. Companies said that they can’t control how their software can be used after they sell it. They understand that their software can be used to kill someone!!!

Since the US and other western governments have interests in the Middle East and with authoritarian regimes, they will not do anything. They understand that these tools can threaten human life not only invasion of privacy!

But we are talking about billions of dollars industry that can’t be controlled ethically..!

Countries with instability, repression, and lack of user awareness such as in Middle East are competing to own these surveillance tools.

On the other side, national security agencies in western governments are not using these tools, they are using custom built and more complicated ones. They can even hack other government security measures and exploit those private tools to collect information from national security agencies in Middle East governments!

Most law enforcements in Middle East lack proper education and training to efficiently operate and use these private tools. They can use it to spy on anyone even their families; there are no codes of ethics, cyber laws, electronic investigation rules or even policies.

Our countries’ national security is not only vulnerable to cyber attacks but also to Geo-political strategies and these private solutions will not prevent anything.

Authoritarian regimes that are using surveillance technology to trace innocent people instead of criminals are easily overthrown by technology itself. 

One year since Stuxnet worm discovered online and the seriousness of the situation is still unfolding. This sophisticated worm which infected various facilities in Iran as I previously discussed was tested in Israel and developed by western scientists and engineers. According to many sources the worm delayed the Iranian nuclear project. New virus has been discovered which related to Stuxnet with new variations called “Duqu”.  Technical sources such as Symantec, McAfee and Budapest University published reports pointing that “Duqu” is another variation of “Stuxnet”.  Experts believed that this is another hit to the Iranian nuclear project!

Iranian officials themselves admitted the infection and the damage caused by this sophisticated worm!

In our connected and complicated world we can’t isolate technology from politics. There is no doubt that war clouds are forming over Iran. But due to the complicated issues and uprisings in the whole Middle East, it will be a call for World War III if they attacked Iran. US, Israel and Western Allies are working hard to stop Iran from going further with its nuclear program but they don’t want to lose control over the situation in the Middle East and that is why they are playing with many cards at the same time. Technical Weapons are still the most effective option at least during this complicated period in the Middle East.

I mentioned in my latest research about 21^st century cyber threats and Middle East that our region will face lots of troubles when it comes to Cyberwar and I can see Iran as one of the countries that is already facing this serious threat at the moment. Its entire nuclear program might collapse due to several Computer Worms leaving the Middle East vulnerable to new Fukushima Explosion!

The Middle East Fukushima scenario is not far if we understand what is happening in our region politically and technically. The huge explosion at Iranian military base last week might tell us more about this horrible scenario!

The explosion killed “Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghaddam” one of the best Iranian missile experts who trained in both China and North Korea in addition to 36 officers killed in the blast.

Western intelligence source told TIME Magazine “Don’t believe the Iranians that it was an accident” The official insisted that Mossad was responsible for the explosion as part of an ongoing operation against Iran’s nuclear programs. “There are more bullets in the magazine,” the official said..!

An intelligence sources claimed today that Maj. Gen Hassan was doing an experiment in the military base to show other officers and experts a new type of warhead which could carry a nuclear payload. It wasn’t a real experiment according to DEBKAfiles rather than just a simulation connected to the missile.

The missile exploded upon an order from the computer as that the computer controlling the missile was infected with the Stuxnet virus which misdirected the missile into blowing without anyone noticing anything until it was too late!

Infecting such isolated system is not easy as infecting your PC. But it might require physical access to the isolated network in which human weakness is heavily involved. Everything might be used such as USB sticks, infection on trusted movable devices and even secret agents…

We are not far from Fukushima Scene in the Middle East with few mouse clicks!

Sources FYI

Please check links in the article for more information
DuQU Report from Budapest University
DUQU Report by Symantec

“ISS World” held Last month in Washington, DC attracted attendees from private sectors, law enforcement, security and defense organizations. According to the Guardian there were also Middle East law enforcement representatives!

It is scheduled to be held in 2012 in Dubai and will be targeting Middle East and North African countries.

For those who don’t know what “ISS World” is; it is the largest and most famous conference for Lawful interception, cyber crime investigation and intelligence gathering tools and systems.

By investigating the sessions, topics and presentation titles, you can easily find how those western companies are helping repressive regimes in the Mideast. They offer all kind of surveillance, hacking and interception tools you’ve never heard of.

We don’t need any evidences from “ISS World” to know that Middle East countries are using such technologies to suppress their people online and offline. We witnessed many evidences during Arab uprising and still see more daily. Arab regimes are now turning to hacking techniques and might be easily categorized as cybercriminals!

I can’t understand how it is “Lawful” for governments to hack into your systems and violate your privacy without any warrant! But it will be turned “Unlawful” and you will be jailed if you hack into your government systems!

In my opinions, there is no difference between western governments and our regimes in Mideast. Western companies are helping repressive regimes to trace their innocent people, invade their privacy, and even kill them because they are just “blogging or tweeting”.

Those western companies who gathered in ISS World said that they are not responsible for how those repressive regimes are using their tools. They sell a product for whoever will pay. They are for-profit companies. According to their claim, that is like selling cars to Libyan rebels they have no responsibility if they use these cars to kill civilians!

This comparison is not fair at all..!

If you sell a car, you know the primary usage of the car.
It is for transportation not a killing machine, sir!

Those companies are hiding behind the “Lawful interception” term.
But what about countries with no law at all? Or even using the law to hide behind?

Young people need to be aware when using technology and must not trust their governments at all. They need to improve their security awareness and understand how to protect their privacy and security online. They should know that these technologies will not protect repressive regimes. It is not just a business game to sell products; it turns political in due course!

Western governments know how to deal with Middle East and oppressive regimes. They made them, feed them, and then throw them into the dustbin of history!

Middle East markets are full of electronics from smart phones up to sophisticated equipments used in telecommunications, security, and Internet surveillance. People and governments are using electronic devices every day. Unfortunately, they don’t know much about these devices and the technology behind it. This situation makes Middle East countries vulnerable to all kind of cyber espionage and electronic surveillance. Governments in the region may think that they can efficiently trace their people online, spying on their phone calls, or event censoring Internet websites using western technologies. But do Middle East governments guarantee that those western technologies couldn’t be used against them?

The answer is NO!

Since you don’t know how exactly this technology works, what inside it and don’t even know how to efficiently use it, you couldn’t guarantee anything!

I mentioned in my latest research that Middle East will face a lot of troubles when it comes to cyber threats and cyber espionage in the 21^st century. One of my fears was the heavy investments in importing Chinese electronics! In Middle East they don’t have quality control on electronic devices and even restricts policies or regulations on safety, security, and privacy issues.

USB modem is one of the simplest cases we can investigate in the Middle East. Most mobile phone providers are selling USB modems made in China especially by Huawei. Its available everywhere and anyone using Internet connection on the go will use this technology.
A recent US intelligence report for the first time linked Huawei Technologies Co. to Chinese secret intelligence agency!!!

For this reason Huawei corp. will not be part of a US national wireless network for emergency services. The US government blocked its bid over spying fears. The company is looking to reach more markets and customers worldwide in cooperation with technology giants such as IBM in order to sell their new products!

Are we safe in the Middle East?

Unfortunately, NO!

Although scientifically possible, It is not technically easy to prove that such electronic devices are infected with hardware Trojans or even spying backdoor. It requires certain producers and scanning techniques that are not available to anyone especially in Middle East. Even those infections or malicious circuits are using special covert channels to communicate and send data. The Trojans can also be triggered by certain conditions such as accessing specific data or physical triggers!

Same issue could be applied to censorship and digital espionage using software or malicious codes. Governments are also using these technologies which designed by western companies to trace their people. Your PC could be easily infected with government Trojan or malicious software that will be able to spy on you, invade your privacy, control your PC or even download and upload files to your infected electronic device or mobile phone. But in this case you can’t always trust your antivirus software. You need to be more professional and search for malware manually as many of government Trojans couldn’t be detected by normal antivirus applications!

Even in this case, Middle East governments don’t use locally developed malware or spying tools, they are also using technology from the west such as the case of SSI in Egypt.  Secret services and intelligence agencies in the region couldn’t guarantee security by using such tools. They are opening security holes in their systems as it is always possible to find a backdoor that send information to the manufacturer!

Recently a professional hacker organization discovered and cracked a government spying software used by German authorities. It is scandal in Germany but there are people who could be able to find the malware and even crack the code using reverse engineering techniques!

Nothing is 100% secured and we can’t be safe without proper education!
We need to invest more in our people not just technology!

Sources FYI:
Hardware Trojan Design
Implementing Hardware Trojan
Analyzing Malware manually