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Table of Contents

• Censorship and Filtering
• Surveillance
• Blogger and Netizen Arrests
• Cyber Attacks
• Technology

CENSORSHIP AND FILTERING

TUNISIA: Interior Minister calls for new Internet monitoring body

Tunisian Minister of the Interior Lotfi Ben Jeddou has proposed that Tunisia establish an Internet monitoring body to investigate cybercrime and other Internet violations in coordination with the Tunisian Ministry of Communication Technologies. In this proposal, the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI), which had previously monitored Internet content, would be relegated to focusing on the development of Tunisia’s Internet services. The proposal has been met with criticism from groups such as Anonymous Tunisia and the Tunisian Pirate Party who fear it could lead to a revitalization of online censorship in the country.

UAE: Emirati telecom provider unblocks Skype

UAE based telecommunications operator Etisalat announced in early April that they had unblocked Skype, allowing users the ability to access the website. The government’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) did make a statement, however, that Skype was still prohibited in the country. Defending its decision, Etisalat claimed that the TRA had stated in 2010 that telecommunications operators could offer Skype without submitting requests to the regulatory authority.

EGYPT: US embassy pulls down Twitter feed

The United States’ Egyptian Embassy recently pulled down its Twitter feed temporarily after the office of President Mohammed Morsi raised objections to a controversial tweet. The former tweeted a link to a video of US comedian Jon Stewart, who criticized the Egyptian government’s arrest of satirist Bassem Yousef. Morsi’s Twitter account responded by chastising the embassy for engaging in “political propaganda.” Since 2011, many Egyptian online political critics and activists have faced government prosecution.

IRAN: Filtering of 1,500 anti-Islamic websites per month

(Note: Cross posted at iranmediaresearch.org)
Mohammad Reza Aghamiri, a member of the Committee to Determine Instances of Criminal Content, stated [Farsi] that an average of 1,500 websites with anti-Islamic content are filtered on a monthly basis. Aghamiri added that “the monitoring of websites is done manually, so in comparison to automatic monitoring of the content, it is less probable that we make mistakes.” Aghamiri also referred to discussions regarding filters within the National Information Network (NIN). He clarified that the NIN will not be monitored and content blockage will be unnecessary because the network operates as a “pure” system.

IRAN: Filtering of ‘Rise of Morning Hope’ websites

(Note: Cross posted at iranmediaresearch.org)
Two websites were launched by The Rise of Morning Hope (Aftab-e Sobh-e Omid) campaign in support of Mohammad Khatami, an Iranian scholar and former president. SalamKhatami.com [Farsi] was developed to gather signatures from Khatami’s supporters and encourage him to run again for the presidency. The second website, SalamKhatami.org [Farsi], serves to cover the latest news related to his possible candidacy. Both websites were filtered [Farsi] shortly after being launched by the order of Iran’s filtering committee.

IRAN: Baztab-e Emrooz news website filtered

News website Baztab-e Emrooz was filtered [Farsi] after reporting [Farsi] that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had threatened to release confidential conversations between himself and election officials in 2009 if the Guardian Council failed to approve the candidacy of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, the current Chief of Staff. The conversations allegedly reveal that election officials falsely reported that Ahmadinejad won by 24 million votes, when in fact he won by 16 million, in order to prevent a recount. The report, which was deleted 50 minutes after it was posted on April 27th, claimed Ahmadinejad contacted officials and argued that voting results should not be rigged. After the story was removed from the Baztab-e Emrooz website, others such as Digarban [Farsi] and Balatarin [Farsi] circulated the story, leading Baztab to once again publish the report on April 28. Baztab-e Emrooz has faced filtering [Farsi] several times during the past year and was not accessible for users inside Iran. After publishing news about Ahmadinejad’s claims that the regime defrauded the voters in the 2009 presidential election, Baztab-e Emrooz was completely shut down.

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SURVEILLANCE

SAUDI ARABIA: Criticizing new monitoring scheme

Global Voices Advocacy reported on the Saudi Arabian government’s intention to surveil online communications over platforms like Skype. While the news was originally reported in the form of a leaked memo [Arabic] on Twitter, the state’s Communications and Information Technology Commission confirmed its veracity on March 31. The Commission asserted that communications surveillance would be aimed at “preserving values and principles, protecting the rights of everyone and protecting society from any negative aspects that could undermine the public well-being.” Companies that do not comply with government directives risk being blocked entirely. Last month, Saudi Arabia threatened to ban messaging applications like Skype, Viber, and WhatsApp in light of its inability to adequately monitor their use.

IRAN: Election headquarters organized by police forces to monitor cyberspace

(Note: cross posted at iranmediaresearch.org)
Newspapers Jam-e Jam and Kayhan reported [Farsi] that the Islamic Republic of Iran Police (NAJA) has formed an election headquarters named Fajr. Social Deputy of Police Forces Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi announced that, in order to ensure the “security and safety of the election process,” Fajr will monitor satellite channels, anti-regime websites, and social networking sites. Since Iranians previously used Facebook to organize rallies after the disputed 2009 elections, Fajr will monitor [Farsi] social networking websites closely to find and restrict similar instances.

IRAN: 20 new regulations for Internet cafés

Iran’s Cyber Police (FATA) issued [Farsi] a new set of 20 rules that Internet cafés are to abide by. According to this new set of guidelines, owners of cybercafés should be “committed, married individuals who have no criminal records” and must set up 24-hour surveillance cameras in their cafés. Staff at Internet cafes must start collecting the details of their customers’ identities,  address, national ID number, and telephone number. Businesses have also been asked to keep detailed records of when and how their customers use the internet, including a list of the websites they visited. In addition, the government has emphasized that the use of VPNs and any other types of circumvention tools is forbidden. The full list of regulations can be found here.

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BLOGGER AND NETIZEN ARRESTS

IRAN: Pro-Khamenei blogger arrested for criticizing Supreme Leader

(Note: Cross posted at iranmediaresearch.org)
A pro-Khamenei cyber activist Mojtaba Daneshtalab was sentenced to six months in prison and 35 dollars in fines over charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “insulting Ali Khamenei.” A day before his imprisonment, Daneshtalab wrote [Farsi] in his blog that he has not become an “anti-revolutionary” person and that he did not have any “bad intentions.” Many of Daneshtalab’s fellow bloggers and other pro-Khamenei cyber activists have used social media to show their disapproval of Daneshtalab’s conviction.

IRAN: Arrest of a circumvention tool distributor

FATA’s chief police officer in the province of Ghazvin announced [Farsi] that, in accordance with FATA’s mission to identify cyber criminals and monitor cyberspace, the organization had arrested a person accused of marketing and selling circumvention tools online. It is reported that the arrested individual was not aware that the sale of circumvention tools is illegal. The Computer Crimes Law dictates that the sale and marketing of circumvention tools and the teaching of methods to bypass censorship is illegal.

UAE: Arrest of an activist for tweeting from a courtroom

Abdullah al-Hadidi, an activist based in the UAE, was recently sentenced to 10 months in jail for live-tweeting his father’s trial from an Abu Dhabi courtroom. He was arrested on March 22 and charged with “disseminating false information.” His father had been detained for “plotting the overthrow of the government” in collaboration with a cell of 94 other people.

BAHRAIN: Bahraini prosecution appeals decision to acquit activist

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has voiced concerns over attempts by the Bahraini prosecution to appeal a decision by the Supreme Criminal Court. The decision would acquit Said Yousif Al-Muhafdah, Vice-President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Al-Muhafdah was charged with tweeting “false information” that security forces had used birdshot against protesters in December 2012.

MOROCCO: Atheist blogger in hiding

Imad Iddine Habib, a Moroccan blogger and self-identified atheist, has gone into hiding due to concerns over his personal safety. Habib had voiced concerns that Moroccan police wanted to arrest him and that his life was “at high risk.” In March, Habib created the Council of Ex-Muslims of Morocco (CeMM), described as “the first public atheist and non-religious organisation in a country with Islam as its state religion.”

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CYBER ATTACKS

ISRAEL: Israeli Hackers vs. Anonymous

Israeli hackers and Anonymous have been embroiled in an ongoing cyber battle. On April 7, pro-Palestinian hackers targeted Israeli websites using DDoS attacks and defacements, but failed to make a significant impact. Targets included the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the website of Israel’s Holocaust memorial. Prior to the attacks, Anonymous had announced its intention to “disrupt and erase Israel from cyberspace” in response to Israeli policies toward Palestinians. Days later, OpIsrael.com—a website allegedly belonging to Anonymous—was defaced by Israeli hackers, who posted pro-Israel propaganda and taunted the hacktivist collective.

SYRIA: Syrian Electronic Army targets CBS and NPR Twitter accounts

The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) attacked a number of high-profile Twitter accounts over the past month. On April 15, the organization attacked NPR.org and its Twitter account in response to the broadcaster’s coverage of the Syrian conflict. Days later, it gained access to CBS’ 60 Minutes Twitter account. The hackers posted messages accusing the United States of cooperating with terrorists and later took responsibility for the attack via a YouTube video. The SEA also claimed responsibility for compromising the Twitter account of the Associated Press and posting a fake news story about a bombing at the White House on April 23. The group has regularly hacked Twitter accounts in the past, including those of Al Jazeera.

OMAN: Moroccan hackers attack sites in Oman via DNS poisoning

On April 21, hackers from Morocco gained access to the Oman Telecommunication Company’s servers and defaced the website of Google Oman (google.com.om). Two people under the handles “Z0mbi3_Ma” and “SQL_Master” diverted traffic from Google Oman’s URL to an outside website via DNS poisoning, whereby hackers alter information on a DNS server’s database. A similar attack occurred on Google Bosnia.

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TECHNOLOGY

IRAN: Iran plans ‘Islamic Google Earth’

(Note: cross posted at iranmediaresearch.org)

Iran’s Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Mohammad Hassan Nami, announced that “Iran is developing a 3D world map project similar to Google Earth, which will be launched in the next four months as a national portal, providing service on a global scale.” Nami stated that this new service will be created with “Islamic views.” Several Iranian officials have commented that Google Earth is in fact a spying tool and it is often blocked in Iran. Experts have expressed doubt that the Iranian government will be able to accomplish a project on such a large scale over the next four months in the current economy.

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The post Middle East and North Africa CyberWatch – April 2013 appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

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Table of Contents

• Censorship and Surveillance
• Blogger and Netizen Arrests
• Cyber Attacks
• Technology

CENSORSHIP AND SURVEILLANCE

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: Blue Coat used in several countries in the region

This month, the Citizen Lab released a report detailing the extent to which products created by Blue Coat Systems, an American network security company, are used in many countries across the world, including several in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2011, the Citizen Lab found evidence that Blue Coat devices capable of censorship and surveillance were actively in use in in Syria and Burma. This latest report reveals the presence of Blue Coat in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon, among other countries. ProxySG and PacketShaper, the two technologies covered in the report, are capable filtering websites, blocking content according to category, and monitoring Internet traffic. While these devices may have legitimate uses, the report raises concerns that technology possessing “dual-use” functionality (i.e., both a commercial and possible military or surveillance application) may be used to undermine human rights in countries where basic freedoms are frequently curtailed by state authorities.

IRAN: New directives for monitoring text messages

With the approaching presidential election, Iranian authorities are taking measures to avoid a recurrence of the 2009 post-election unrest. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has urged [Farsi] mobile operators to start monitoring the content of text messages. The Ministry’s statement went viral on social networking websites. A few hours later, the Deputy of Iran’s Communications Regulatory Authority clarified that only text messages sent by corporations as advertisement would be monitored. In addition, the Communication and Information Technology News Agency, an online news agency, has speculated [Farsi] that text message filtration in Iran happens at the key word level. For example, messages containing words like “currency” and “dollar” were filtered during the last year’s currency crisis. Recently, it appears that text messages with the word “institute” have been filtered.

IRAN: Filtering of popular online computer games

Travian, the most popular online game in Iran, was filtered [Farsi] on January 1 by order of the Commission to Determine Instances of Criminal Content. Although the government lifted [Farsi] the block on January 9, this incident showed how Iranian censors have increasingly targeted online computer games. According to a report by Gerdab website [Farsi], owned and run by the  Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Command, computer games aim to “introduce Islam as the origin of terrorism, and against the other religions in the world.” Travian has been particularly criticized because the game’s objective is to build a powerful and prosperous city and to control as many cities as possible. Fars News Agency also published [Farsi] a statement by a group of computer game developers, who support the filtering of non-Iranian computer games to support domestic game developers.

JORDAN: Jordanian upcoming elections highlight concerns over Internet Freedom

As Jordan heads toward parliamentary elections at the end of January, Internet freedom activists have raised concerns over the possibility that the post-election government will move forward with media censorship laws. Of particular note is a legislation that would force media sites to register with Jordan’s Ministry of Press and Publication and require service providers to implement centralized filtering of pornographic websites. January 18 marked the deadline for websites to register with the Ministry. Administrators who failed to register were supposed to go offline, although the majority of sites have not done so. As previously reported, a grassroots movement in Jordan has developed in opposition to this set of legislation.

GAZA and the WEST BANK: Facebook “censors” Israeli-Arab journalist

Facebook deactivated the account of Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli-Arab journalist, for what it describes as “terms of use” violations. The deactivation occurred after complaints from the Palestinian Authority and Jordanian Security Services, which Abu Toameh alleged were a result of articles posted on his page criticizing the Palestinian Authority. In the past, the Palestinian Authority has arrested its citizens for posting criticism about the government on their respective Facebook pages.

SYRIA: YouTube accidentally closes accounts of human rights group

YouTube admitted to accidentally shutting down accounts belonging to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group monitoring violence relating to the ongoing civil war in Syria. The group had received messages from YouTube that those accounts were posting violent and “offensive” videos. All accounts associated with the group have subsequently been reinstated.

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BLOGGER AND NETIZEN ARRESTS

ALGERIA: Hacker arrested in Thailand

Hamza Bendelladj, an Algerian hacker who allegedly stole millions of dollars from private bank accounts and financial institutions using a trojan/botnet known as Zeus, was arrested by Thai police at the airport on January 6. According to Thailand’s immigration police, the United States requested his arrest on charges of banking fraud. He will likely be extradited to the US, where he has been on the FBI’s wanted list for several years.

IRAN: Blogger arrested for insulting a governmental organization

Mohammad Reza Jahanshiri, chief of Bushehr Province’s branch of Iran’s Cyber and Information Exchange Police (FATA), reported [Farsi] that a blogger has been arrested for publishing posts deemed offensive to a Bushehri government organization. According to Jahanshiri, the arrested blogger has confessed to his “alleged offence” and is now awaiting trial.

KUWAIT: Arrests of online activists over Twitter comments

Ayyad al-Harbi, a Kuwaiti blogger, was sentenced to two years in jail for criticizing the government on his Twitter account. The government also handed out a jail sentence to opposition activist Rashed al-Enezi, who has been accused of insulting the Kuwaiti Emir on Twitter. Arresting Kuwaiti citizens for online comments is not unknown in the country; several members of the Kuwaiti royal family have been arrested for posting anti-government views through social media.

OMAN: Jail terms upheld for bloggers

An Omani court has upheld jail terms between one year and 18 months for eight bloggers and writers accused of defaming the monarchy. As previously reported, lèse majesté arrests in Oman were common in 2012. State prosecution of “online crimes” has been made significantly easier through Oman’s Cyber Crime Law enacted in 2011.

TUNISIA: Blogger stands trial for accusing foreign minister

The public prosecutor’s office in Tunisia is investigating Olfa Riahi, a blogger and independent journalist, for alleging that Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem misused public funds to pay for personal accommodations at the Sheraton Hotel. The Tunisian press has named the incident “Sheraton Gate.” Riahi also posted leaked communication implicating Abdessalem in the acceptance of “a one million dollar gift from the state of China” without proper budgetary oversight. The minister’s legal team has accused Riahi of “violating article 86 of the telecommunications code, articles 89 and 90 of Law 63-2004 on the protection of privacy, articles 126, 148 and 253 of the criminal code, and finally article 54 of [the new press law].” Reporters Without Borders condemned the use of criminal, telecommunications, and privacy laws to punish press freedom.

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CYBER ATTACKS

SAUDI ARABIA: Majority of Saudi companies at risk of cyberattack

According to a report published in Saudi newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah, Symantec, a global computer security company, has found that 69 percent of Saudi companies are unprepared for potential cyber attacks. A Symantec representative stated that Saudi companies’ “lack of data backup operations on a daily basis” is their biggest vulnerability to data loss or theft. Last August, Saudi Aramco, the country’s national oil company, was hit by a widely publicized virus called “Shamoon,” an attack that United States and Israeli officials blamed on Iran. Symantec also alleged in its annual Norton Cybercrime Report that cybercrime cost Saudi Arabian consumers some SR 2.6 billion in 2012, launched primarily via social network and mobile phone exploits.

SYRIA: Syrian Electronic Army leaks government documents

On January 21, Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper, reported that the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) would soon release “secret documents from Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia” through its English language website. The collection of e-mail exchanges, contracts, and official papers purportedly clarify the role that foreign governments have played in the Syrian conflict. The first set of documents, taken from the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs and dubbed “Qatar Leaks,” was released two days later on Al-Akhbar and the SEA’s website. The files include a transcript of a meeting between the Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim and Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi in which the two intimate support for the Syrian opposition.

UAE: Activists hit with targeted malware

Bahrain Watch reports that an activist in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was recently the target of a malware attack via a suspect e-mail. The e-mail text linked to a video containing an embedded Java applet. Days earlier, international news media reported a massively exploited Java vulnerability, causing the United States’ Department of Homeland Security to warn users to disable Java on their computers. In the UAE activist’s case, the exploit’s payload appeared to be a spyware program that would grant the attacker keylogging, password stealing, and screen viewing capabilities on the victim’s computer. Based on similar incidents that have occurred over the past several months, Bahrain Watch believes that the Emirati government is ultimately responsible for the targeted malware attacks.

IRAN: Unconfirmed cyber attacks against a petrochemical plant

Asr-e Ertebat [Farsi], a weekly online magazine, and Fars News Agency [Farsi] reported that 1,072 cyber attacks have been directed against a petrochemical plant. Based on government speculation, the news agencies believe that the attacks originated from Israel. Iran’s National Computer Emergency Response Team (MAHER) has not confirmed the news and the story has received little coverage in the international media.

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TECHNOLOGY

IRAN: Smart software to control social networking websites

Iran’s chief of police, Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam, announced [Farsi] that Iran plans to develop software for controlling social-networking sites. Ahmadi Moghadam believes that “smart control” of social-networking sites is more useful than filtering because the “harm of social networking websites would be avoided, and at the same time, people could benefit from their useful features.” However, Nima Rashedan, an Iranian tech expert based in Switzerland, expressed doubt that Iran has the adequate infrastructure and knowledge to produce such software. Rashedan believes that the announcement was made without “knowing the exact technical difficulties of the project.”

IRAN: Recent updates on the status of National Information Network

Iran’s Deputy of Communications and Technology at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology stated [Farsi] that more governmental organizations are gradually being connected to the National Information Network (NIN). Deputy Communications Minister Ali Hakim Javadi also added that at this time the NIN is completing the data sharing system between organizations and making the single-window system for services operational. Javadi announced recently [Farsi] that the International Exchange Center will soon be launched. This centre would act as a “switch,” which connects governmental organizations to one another and enables them to share and transfer information.

IRAN: Planning the National Network of Cyber Defence

Alireza Rahai, chancellor of Amirkabir University of Technology, announced [Farsi] that, in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, a national network of cyber defence will be launched. Rahai added that it is crucial to prepare for an increasing number of cyber attacks that could potentially target Iranian infrastructure. Rahai said that the recently formed Information Security group at Amirkabir University will engage in research and software development in the areas of cyber defence and information security.

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Table of Contents

• Censorship and Filtering
• Blogger and Netizen Arrests
• Cyber Attacks
• Internet and Social Media Use
• Technology

CENSORSHIP AND FILTERING

ISRAEL: Courts reject petition to censor anti-Islamic video
On October 15, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that Google and YouTube are not required to block access to the Innocence of Muslims video in Israel. Knesset member Taleb a-Sanaa submitted a petition to block the video, but Judge Miriam Mizrahi struck it down on the basis that it failed to name both Google and YouTube as responsible legal entities. The court would have likely rejected the request regardless of the technicality, as it endorsed Google’s position that viewers had to actively seek out the video and could only be exposed to it by their own volition.

IRAN: Websites filtered over currency crisis
With the escalation of the currency crisis in Iran, currency and gold price, websites such as Mazaneh were blocked [Farsi] on October 3. The official website for Iran’s union for gold, jewelry, and coins was also made unavailable.

IRAN: Blocking of Media File Downloads
Iranian users are no longer able to download MP3, MP4, AVI, and SWF files hosted on foreign servers. Iran’s government has started blocking [Farsi] specific file extensions, thereby preventing users from accessing a significant portion of audio-visual content hosted on servers outside of Iran. As a result, many websites designed using Flash technology will no longer be available to Iranian users, though they are not technically filtered. The aim of this decision may be to restrict access to Internet radio stations and online podcasts.

PALESTINE: Concerns over possible blocking of news sites
Reports indicate that Palestinian Internet users in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip could have difficulty accessing certain news sites, such as Israeli newspaper Haaretz, prompting fears that political sites may be censored in the near future. As previously reported, Hamas has already instructed service providers to block pornographic websites starting in September.

SAUDI ARABIA: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia calls for international censorship body
In response to last month’s Innocence of Muslims controversy, Saudi Arabia has called for the establishment of an international organization to oversee the censorship of offensive Internet content. Saudi officials equated the film and similar material with “malicious and criminal activities such as child pornography, identity theft, spam, denial of service attacks, and malware” and argued that states must collaborate to address such issues.

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BLOGGER AND NETIZEN ARRESTS

ALGERIA: Algerian blogger and human rights activist arrested
Police officers beat and arrested human rights activist Yacine Zaid on the grounds of showing a “lack of respect” toward the police. Zaid, who is a blogger [French] and member of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights was released [French] on October 8 after receiving a fine and a suspended sentence.

BAHRAIN: Arrests over “misuse of social media”
Authorities in Bahrain arrested four people for “defaming public figures on social media” as part of the government’s efforts to monitor the “misuse” of social media. If found guilty, a penalty of five years imprisonment could be imposed on the accused. As previously reported, Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior has pledged to vigorously prosecute citizens for posting what they see as defamatory and abusive comments on social media.   

TUNISIA: Trial of Tunisian blogger adjourned
The trial of Sofiane Shurabi, a Tunisian blogger who has been critical of both the ruling Ennahda party and the former regime, was adjourned until October 16. Shurabi was arrested in August for drinking alcohol in public during the month of Ramadan. There have been several instances of blogger arrests and prosecutions in Tunisia since the fall of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

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CYBER ATTACKS

ISRAEL: Israeli Defense Forces increasing cyber-warfare recruiting
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has adopted a new policy aimed at recruiting more soldiers capable of conducting cyber warfare and increasing its budget for cyber-related activities. The announcement followed a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 14 that “there have been increasing efforts to carry out cyberattacks on Israel’s computer infrastructure.” The IDF already allocates some NIS 1 billion (over US$262 million) to cyber defense.

IRAN: New spyware found
A new form of spyware called “MiniFlame”, which appears to have originated from the same malware factory that created Stuxnet and Flame, has been discovered [Farsi] in Iran. According to the chief security expert at Kaspersky, a Moscow-based cyber security company, MiniFlame conducts in-depth surveillance and cyber espionage against high-value targets. The main targets include Iranian and Lebanese banks that are are suspected of laundering money for Iran and Hizbullah.

IRAN: Recent cyber attacks against Iranian Offshore Oil Company
According to Mohammad Reza Golshani, IT manager of the Iranian Offshore Oil Company, the company was the target [Farsi] of several cyber attacks during the past two weeks. These cyber attacks have affected the communications systems of the entire company, including its oil platforms. No further damage to the computer system has been found as the company has an internal computer network and is not connected to the global Internet.

IRAN: Average of 500 daily cyber attacks against Iran
According to Reza Taqipour, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, over 500 attacks [Farsi] are directed against Iran on a daily basis, though only major attacks receive media coverage. The Chief of Iran’s Cyber and Information Exchange Police (FATA) also stated [Farsi] that, in spite of continuous attacks against Iran, no government website has been severely damaged.

SYRIA: Syria accused of disrupting BBC services
BBC services to Europe and the Middle East have been jammed in Syria and Eutelsat, a French-based satellite company, has blamed the Assad government for the disruption. Many sources have also accused Iran of supporting Syria in disrupting these services. Prior to this attack, Eutelsat recently blocked 19 Iranian radio and television broadcasters in compliance with European Union sanctions against the Iranian government.

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INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE

SAUDI ARABIA: First defamation case via Twitter
A Saudi woman has accused [Arabic] a young man of publicly cursing and defaming her via Twitter. The woman took screenshots and delivered them to local police authorities in Medina, who in turn referred the case to the Authority for Investigation and Prosecution. The incident is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia and comes after Riyadh’s recent approval of penalties for those engaged in libel and defamation on social networking websites.

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TECHNOLOGY

IRAN: Uncertain future for national anti-virus product
Six months after the introduction [Farsi] of Iran’s national antivirus project, the developers—Shiraz University’s Computer Emergency Response Team of Academic Protection and Awareness (APA)— have yet to provide an update [Farsi] on the project’s progress. According to Gholam Reza Jalali, the director of Iran’s Passive Defense Organization, the project is 60 percent complete. However, the APA has refused to comment on either the technical aspects or progress of the project. Asr-e Ertebat, a weekly Iranian magazine, recently argued that, although it is essential to develop and support national anti-malware and antivirus products, the future of the project is uncertain.

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The post Middle East and North Africa CyberWatch October 6-19 appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

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Table of Contents

• Censorship and Filtering
• Blogger and Netizen Arrests
• Cyber Attacks
• Internet and Social Media Use
• Technology

CENSORSHIP AND FILTERING

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: Google blocks YouTube video in response to popular protest
On September 11, protesters stormed the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt in response to a 14-minute YouTube video that was deemed insulting to Islam. Hours later, armed men attacked the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya and killed four staff members. Protests subsequently spread to Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, and other Muslim-majority countries. Google, which owns YouTube, blocked access to the video in Egypt, Libya, and Saudi Arabia. The move was highly controversial and provoked debate as to whether “exceptional circumstances” justify censorship and the violation of free speech.

JORDAN: Continuing controversy over press law amendments
Jordan’s King Abdullah II has issued a decree in support of controversial changes to the country’s existing Press and Publications Law. These amendments include obliging web editors to join the Jordan Press Association and mandating that news websites apply for licenses from the government. As previously reported, journalists and other activists have voiced their objection to these amendments, claiming that changes will curtail free expression online and inhibit Jordan’s growing Internet economy.

TUNISIA: Official end to Internet censorship declared
Tunisia’s Internet censorship policies have officially come to an end according to the country’s Information and Communications Minister, Mongi Marzoug. Former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali promoted the censorship policy, popularly referred to as “Ammar 404” after the “404” error message received by Tunisian users when accessing blocked sites. The relaxation of Internet controls was one of the last promises made by Ben Ali to the people shortly before he went into exile.

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BLOGGER AND NETIZEN ARRESTS

OMAN: Blogger convicted of “slander”
Journalist and blogger Mukhtar bin Muhammad bin Saif al-Hinai was convicted of slander and unspecified “violations of media codes” for alleged anti-government writings. As previously reported, online activists have been extensively prosecuted for comments seen as defaming the ruling Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said.

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CYBER ATTACKS

IRAN: White-hat hackers are invited to work with the Cyber and Information Exchange Police
Iran’s Cyber and Information Exchange Police (FATA) has invited [Farsi] tech-savvy citizens to form a group of “white hat hackers.” According to FATA’s chief, Kamal Hadianfar, they will assist the police in “identifying vulnerabilities in the system”. FATA will also continue to track and arrest “black hat hackers” or “crackers.” In hacker parlance, “white hats” are those who break security for ostensibly altruistic reasons, while “black hats” are commonly seen as malicious computer criminals.

IRAN: Facebook fan page of a well-known caricaturist hacked
A week after the formation of the “white-hat hackers” group, the Facebook fan page of Mana Neyestani, an Iranian caricaturist, was compromised by a group called “Islam’s Soldiers”. The group defaced the page with caricatures featuring pro-Assad, anti-Israel, and anti-Saudi Arabia themes within hours of having control over the site. Neyestani is known for his criticisms of the Iranian government and was previously detained for his controversial work.

IRAN: Partnership with North Korea to fight against cyber attacks developed by western countries
Iran and North Korea signed [Farsi] a technical cooperation contract to join forces in the fight against malware attacks such as Duqu, Flame and Stuxnet. According to Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of the Finnish computer security company, F-Secure, the main purposes behind the agreement were to mutually develop protection against cyber attacks, expand cyber security capabilities, and possibly collaborate on their own cyber attacks.

IRAN: Minister of Information urges governmental agencies to prepare against cyber attacks
Reza Taqipour, Minister of Information and Communications Technology, announced [Farsi] that all governmental agencies are required to form “cyber rescue teams” and make preparations to defend against potential cyber attacks. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology would also create a national center to collaborate with these teams and assist them in withstanding any attacks.

SYRIA: Pro-government Syrian hackers send fake Al-Jazeera texts
In the latest series of cyber attacks launched by supporters of the Syrian government, the Syrian Electronic Army compromised Al Jazeera’s SMS service. The news network reported [Arabic] the incident on its Twitter feed and warned that those responsible had sent fake news stories, including one that claimed that the Qatari prime minister had been assassinated.

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INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE

BAHRAIN: Ministry of Interior to tackle crimes related to social media use
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior has recently announced that it will soon prosecute those guilty of “defamation and abuse” on social media platforms. The Acting General Director of Anti-Corruption and Electronic and Economic Security further clarified that such offenses would include insulting public figures, a number of whom have complained to the Ministry about victimization and abuse online. In June, the Ministry of State for Information Affairs stated that the “unrest in Bahrain last year was fueled by the irresponsible use of such media” and consequently announced that authorities were planning to regulate social media networks.

IRAN: Discussions on the meaning of Iran’s “National Information Network”
With Iran having recently made much progress on its “National Information Network”, Reza Taqipour, stated [Farsi] that full implementation of a national Intranet does not mean that Iranians will be cut from the Internet. However, Donya-e-Eqtesad, an Iranian newspaper, suggested [Farsi] in an editorial that a national network would not protect Iranian users from cyber attacks, and cautioned that there is no guarantee that governmental organizations would not be the target of malware attacks.

IRAN: Minister of Information describes causes for slow Internet speed
Reza Taqipour also addressed complaints about the slow speed of Internet in Iran, announcing [Farsi] that an increasing number of cyber attacks have necessitated stricter security and that these security measures may decrease Internet speeds. He also noted that problems with Iran’s undersea Internet cable, which have recently been resolved through the construction of a parallel cable, likely contributed to reduced Internet speeds in the country.

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TECHNOLOGY

IRAN: New graduate programs in fields of cyber security
Brigadier General Hossein Valivand, Commander of the Islamic Republic’s University of Military Science, announced [Farsi] that the university will soon admit masters students in the fields of cyber science, soft warfare, and information warfare. Valivand argued that Western countries use “constantly changing and increasingly complex strategies to weaken Iran”, and that Iran must consequently revise its educational system to meet these challenges.

IRAN: Importation of non-Iranian cyber security products is not banned
Ali Hakim Javadi, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Technology, denied recent reports that the government has banned importation of non-Iranian anti-virus products. Minister Javadi explained [Farsi] that importing foreign software and hardware products is not entirely banned, but that potential importers must obtain a permit from Iran’s Information Technology Organization beforehand.

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• Internet Freedom
• Syria Updates
• Blogger and Netizen Arrests
• Social Media News
• Cyber Attack
• Iran Telecommunications Updates

INTERNET FREEDOM

Tunisian media freedom organization shuts down – On July 4, the National Authority for Information and Communication Reform (INRIC), which was tasked with helping to reform the post-revolution media landscape, announced the end of its mission. The head of the commission, Kamel Labidi, accused decision makers of “ignoring” the INRIC’s final report, submitted on April 2012. The report, among other things, urged the government to implement decree laws 115 and 116 ratified in November 2011 by the interim government of former PM Beji Caid Sebsi. Decree 115 (also known as the new press code) guarantees the protection of journalists from harassment and eliminates prison sentences for criminal defamation and a number of other speech offences, while decree 116 laid the ground for the establishment of an independent authority to “organise the audio-visual media landscape in a pluralistic, democratic, and transparent manner.” Despite the laws passing,  there has been a succession of  statements and actions by the government that rides roughshod over the provisions of the current press law. For instance, a 2,400-dinar (US$1,500) fine was imposed on Nabil Karoui, the owner of the television station Nessma TV, for broadcasting the animated film “Persepolis”, denounced as blasphemous by some Islamists.

Tunisians launch online platform to monitor police abuse – The Tunisian Association for Digital Liberties (ATLN) launched Yezzi, a tool which seeks to “collect violence testimonies sent by mobile, web, email and SMS, and then place them on a Google Map.” There is a broad impunity for police officers and acceptance of police brutality in Tunisian society. Indeed, it was the actions of corrupt law enforcement officials that precipitated the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi and sparked the Arab Spring. Yezzi (translated as “enough” from Tunisian dialect) combines social activism, citizen journalism, and technological innovation to expose such abuses and seek accountability.

ANHRI condemns the blocking of Alsaha Al-Arabia website in Saudi Arabia – The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned Saudi authorities for blocking Alsaha Al-Arabia, the first Arabic discussion forum created by a group of young Emiratis in the 1990s. The website has been blocked in Saudi Arabia for some time, but remained operational and could be accessed through various circumvention tools. However, site administrators published a statement on June 28 which said that the website will be shut down effective August 1 due to financial concerns. Advertisers have allegedly pulled their funding due to pressure from the Saudi government. Despite the administrators’ attempts to contact the government, they have not provided a rationale for their actions. This is an unusual censorship method as the regime chose to exert pressure financially,  instead of forcing administrators to shutter the website outright.

More than 100 sites filtered in Iran in just three months – Despite the unavailability of official statistics on the number of websites that are filtered across Iran, information collected by provincial governments has shown that more than 100 Iranian and foreign websites have been filtered in the past three months.

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SYRIA UPDATES

Anonymous claims responsibility for Syria Wikileaks – On July 6, the hacktivist group Anonymous released a statement in which it took credit for having provided to WikiLeaks over two million emails that were taken “from Syrian political figures, ministries, and associated companies”.  It also revealed that the “Anonymous Op Syria” team had consisted of elements from Anonymous Syria, the reformed Lulzsec  that is now known as Antisec, and the Peoples Liberation Front. They had aimed “to create a breach of multiple domains and dozens of servers in Syria” . Many hacktivists taking part in the operation were working from inside the country.

Opposition radio in Syria – Syrian activists living in Cairo have founded Radio Ana as an alternative to state media. The Assad regime employs the state media for its propaganda, while private stations have avoided covering political matters entirely for fear of having their licenses revoked. Radio Ana’s founders, Deiaa Dugnmoch and Rami Jarrah, hope that the station will lay the foundations for the development of a democratic system after Assad.

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BLOGGER AND NETIZEN ARRESTS

Detention in Sudan – Blogger Maha El-Senussi, who was arrested weeks ago by Sudanese authorities while covering a series of anti-austerity protests, has given an account of her interrogation and detention by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

Lèse majesté arrests in Oman – Lèse majesté laws have been cited in the arrest of four Omani dissidents accused of making defamatory comments against reigning Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Among them was poet Hamad al-Kharusi who was arrested for publishing a poem directed at the Sultan on his Facebook page. Cited in the arrest was Article 16 of Oman’s Cybercrime Law which prohibits the use of the Internet for “spreading news, video or audio recordings about the private life of individuals, even if it is right, or for insulting or defaming others.”

Iranians posting “lies” or blasphemous comments online can be jailed – Iran’s Cyber and Information Exchange Police (FATA) has released a statement stating that anyone convicted of posting “lies” or blasphemous comments online will face 91 days or up to two years in prison and/or a fine of US$250 up to US$2,000.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media use surges in Bahrain while the government continues to crackdown on political content – 51 percent of Bahrain’s 900,000 Internet users are now active on social networking sites, an increase of approximately 120,000 social media users since last year. Currently, 340,000 citizens are active on Facebook and 60,000 people have Twitter accounts. The government, however, still closely monitors and imposes censorship on these networks, as well as threatens users who post dissenting opinions with arrest. MENA Cyber Watch previously reported on the case of Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights activist who was arrested for posting tweets critical of the regime. This week, Rajab was found guilty of libel and sentenced to three months in jail. He also faces jail time for two other charges related to participating in and calling for protests through social media. The trial will resume on July 12.

Sudan’s social media smear campaign against opposition – Darfurian Rudwan Dawod, project director for Sudan Sunrise, an organization working towards peace and reconciliation in Sudan and South Sudan, was arrested last week at a protest organized by the pro-democracy student group, Girifna (Arabic for “We’re Fed Up”). A social media smear campaign then surfaced against Dawood, alleging that he was a terrorist who had been planning to bomb Khartoum. It came as no surprise, as President Omar al-Bashir has been known to use the state-controlled media to discredit activists who opposes his regime. Dawod has reportedly been tortured during his detention in an effort to get him to confess to being a CIA operative.

Arrest of ‘Satanism’ page owner in Iran - Iran’s FATA’s chief police officer in the province of South Khorasan said that cyber experts and police officers have identified a group on a social networking website that promotes Satanism in the country. Police officers have reportedly arrested the owner of the page.

Saudi protesters using social media – Saudi activists in the restive Eastern Province have used social media to draw attention to protests against and abuses by Saudi forces. Videos were posted showing thousands of mourners gathering in the streets during the funeral of Muhammed el-Filfil who was shot and killed on July 8 while protesting the arrest of a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheik Nimr al-Nimr. Videos of protesters clashing with security forces and throwing Molotov cocktails at the police after the funeral have also surfaced.

CYBER ATTACK

Sudanese government allegedly stops cyber-attack – Government-sponsored news source Al-Ahram Al-Yawm reported that the Sudanese government has thwarted attempts by hacker groups to plant spy software into more than 50 government websites. The revelation of the cyber-plot came after Anonymous released a YouTube video warning  that it will take action to protest Sudanese government’s restrictions on free speech and Internet access. MENA Cyber Watch has been covering the ongoing crackdown on anti-government websites and arrests of bloggers since protests against the regime began three weeks ago.

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IRAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS UPDATES

News from the Supreme Council of Cyberspace:

• Mehdi Akhavan Bahabadi, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, spoke on the successful transfer of government websites to Iranian hosts: “In recent years, attempts to host governmental portals and websites from within Iran have been achieved up to approximately 96 percent. However, it seems that the main goal of such a decision, to create a domestic market for the private sector to host governmental data centers, has been forgotten”. Bahabadi went on to say that Iran’s private sector should play a greater role in the IT industry’s expansion and governance. He expects that some of its policies and strategies will be modified in consultation with the private sector and with the help of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace.

• Bahabadi also announced a new decision on the amalgamation of the Telecommunications Research Center with the Supreme Council of Cyberspace following the President’s recommendations. From now on, not only would the Telecommunication Research Center operate under the Supreme Council’s supervision, but the entire facility and staff would also be relocated to the Supreme Council’s current location.

• Hamid Shahriari, member of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, stated that the formation of the Supreme Council followed a similar example in Ireland. He said: “In a report prepared for the Supreme Leader of Iran, it has been recommended that an inter-governmental council could greatly contribute to solving some of the current problems in the IT and Communication sector”. In Ireland, a similar council works under the supervision of the Prime Minister and all the ministries and governmental agencies are required to seek the council’s approval before issuing any certificate or allowances in the IT and Communications sector.

Plans for public Wi-Fi zones in Tehran cancelled – MobinNet, an Iranian telecommunications company, has been working on plans to bring high speed wireless Internet to Iran’s capital city. However, according to Mehr News Agency, the Communications Regulatory Authority refused to provide the company with a license to operate.

Iranian citizens typically use Google search engine five times a day - According to research results published by the IT and Digital Media Association, Iran’s 36.5 million Internet users, most of whom use the Google search engine approximately five times daily, contributed US$277 million to the company’s 2011 profits.

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The post Middle East and North Africa CyberWatch: July 6 – July 13, 2012 appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

• Syria Updates
• Sudan Followups
• Cyber Warfare
• Blogger Arrests
• Cyber Surveillance
• Cyber Terrorism
• Internet Freedom
• Iran Telecommunication Updates

SYRIA UPDATES

WikiLeaks releases over two million emails – On July 5, WikiLeaks announced that it would gradually release over two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries, and associated companies, dating from August 2006 to March 2012. Julian Assange stated that “The material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria’s opponents. It helps us not merely to criticise one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it.” The initial batch consisted of 25 emails documenting the ties between SELEX Communications, a subsidiary of an Italian industrial group Finmeccanica, and the Syrian government. SELEX previously sold TETRA, an encrypted communications system, to Syrian military and police forces. However, it has provided systems maintenance and training as late as February 2012, thus violating US and EU sanctions on the regime. It is expected that the remaining emails will be released over the coming months.

Syrian government websites must be hosted locally – Syrian Days and Al-Iqtisad reported that the Prime Minister’s office issued a communiqué which mandated that all ministries, organisations, companies, and public agencies undertake precautionary steps to ensure information security. These steps include transferring Syrian government organisations’ websites that are hosted elsewhere to servers located inside the Syrian Arab Republic, and a periodic (at least once a year) security review of those websites to be carried out by the Center for Information Security at the National Commission for Network Services.

Syrian Electronic Army hacks al-Jazeera’s social media – Pro-Assad Internet activists hacked the Twitter and Facebook accounts of al-Jazeera’s “The Stream” program on July 5. The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility on its website and accused al-Jazeera of propagating lies and falsehood. Al-Jazeera reportedly resolved the issue by day’s end. The incident is just the latest of many online attacks and website defacements attributed to the Syrian Electronic Army.

Reporting in Syria – The Economist reported on the importance of information communication technologies and social media in reporting the civil conflict in Syria. Much of the news comes from citizen journalists, activists, and bloggers inside Syria using Skype, satellite phones, email updates, and handheld video cameras.The article noted that while the government  is guilty of imposing a media blackout and actively disseminating false information, activists are equally guilty of manipulating information to suit their agendas.

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SUDAN FOLLOW-UPS

Attacks on Media – Attacks on members of the media in Sudan continue unabated. Egyptian journalist Shaimaa Adel was arrested by the security forces in an Internet cafe this week along with Sudanese journalist Marwa el-Tejany.  A post on Index on Censorship’s UNCUT blog detailed both the use of social media in anti-government protests and the government’s heavy-handed response, such as arresting bloggers and online activists. Allegations have surfaced that some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have deliberately shut down services to curtail anti-government activities online.

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CYBER-WARFARE

Iran in defensive mode over cyber attacks – The Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) has been partially taken over by the country’s Ministry of Defence. TCI, which regulates various services and equipment such as digital switching centers, fibre optic cables, mobile phones, data networks, satellite services, and telephone services, will now be partially controlled by the Ministry. There is no clear indication as to the reason for this move; however, it could be speculated that this is a defensive measure against recent cyber attacks that have targeted Iran’s nuclear program.

Reza Taqipour, Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology, stated that the Flame virus has not caused any notable damages to the country’s infrastructure. He also went on to say that no malware has been able to penetrate Iran’s networks to this date. Taqipour explained that Iran’s cyber defence is so strong, that it is able to filter hundreds of thousands of viruses that attempt to penetrate its network firewalls on a daily basis.

Anonymous hacked the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) government servers in order to highlight Internet censorship in the country. The group leaked a list of URLs filtered by UAE’s ISPs, which included websites with adult content, social media and dating sites, VPN providers, sites providing users with help to circumvent government controls, and sites promoting religious views other than Islam.

In Turkey, a local hacker group called RedHack targeted the official website of the Foreign Ministry. The group published the identities of foreign diplomats serving in Turkey and indicated that it plans to release more “sensitive information” soon. They also defaced the Ministry’s website with images of the Turkish Prime Minister embracing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi.

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BLOGGER ARRESTS

Mohammad Soleimani Nia, an Iranian journalist, translator, poet, and social networking expert, has been arrested again only two months after being released from jail. A CNN International report from July 4 stated that Nia had gone missing after returning to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison to retrieve some of his belongings, including a laptop, his passport, and driver’s license. According to Freedom House, Nia was summoned to Evin and detained without any charges being laid. The reasons behind this sudden detention are still unclear.

Arrests in Morocco – The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) released a statement condemning the upsurge of arrests of journalists and bloggers in Morocco. The most recent arrest occurred last month when Hasan Barhon, a journalist and blogger, was taken into custody for taking photos of a security crackdown of street vendors.

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CYBER SURVEILLANCE

Libya’s transitional government reinstates some surveillance – The Wall Street Journal reported that Libyan authorities have redeployed some of the interception equipment once used by former president Muammar Gaddafi. The equipment has been used over the past few months to track phone calls and online communications between remaining Gaddafi loyalists, including Saadi Gaddafi. The caretaker government’s intelligence agencies have denied using Gaddafi-era surveillance gear, but other Libyan officials have stated otherwise. Some see the measure as a necessary means to protect the revolution from backsliding, while others argue that it is a violation of the principles of democracy and transparency that underpinned Gaddafi’s overthrow in the first place.

Guaranteed protection of Iranian email accounts – Director General of Iran’s government-controlled Information Technology Company, Esmail Radkani, has stated that emails on Iranian servers can be accessed by the government only through a court-issued warrant. If an instance should arise where a person’s email is compromised without a warrant, then that person can make a complaint to the judiciary. However, Radkani added that such assurances cannot be given to persons using non-Iranian email accounts. MENA Cyber Watch has reported on this issue before. This effort is a further push to encourage Iranians to use local email providers and therefore make the country’s cyberspace more self-sufficient.

Hijab for Iranians on the web – In a question and answer period, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, Iran’s Prosecutor General, responded to questions about hijab, the veil worn by Muslim women to cover their hair, in cyberspace by explaining that Iranians are expected to follow Islamic dress code on the Internet. The police have the power to charge any offenders.

Dealing with unethical behaviour on Facebook in Iran – According to Mashregh News, several Facebook accounts with un-Islamic profiles and cover photos were hacked last week. Their profile photos were replaced with the logo of Iran’s judicial body and accompanied by the text: “By judicial order, the owner of this page has been placed under investigation”. A few friends in the hacked accounts were also tagged in the warning photographs.

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CYBER TERRORISM

TIME magazine reported that French counter-terror authorities have arrested a Tunisian man accused of being a “key enabler of communications between extremist groups allied to al-Qaeda around the globe”. As administrator of a website favored by Islamist radicals, the suspect’s web activities included facilitating secure communication for the groups, raising funds, recruiting volunteers, and providing information on potential targets.

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INTERNET FREEDOM

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council adopted a resolution affirming that all human rights must be protected online as well as offline. The resolution was submitted by Turkey, Tunisia, plus three other countries, and co-sponsored by 85 countries – a number of them in the MENA region. Tunisia’s Ambassador to the UN, Moncef Baati, noted the particular importance of the resolution for his country, stating, “The most important result of the Tunisian revolution is this right to freedom of expression…(this) is very important at the moment (in Tunisia) and it is for this reason that there is a strong commitment in Tunisia to consolidate Internet rights.”

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IRAN TELECOMMUNICATION UPDATES

Mashregh News reported that Google’s tutorial on effective search methods, Power Searching with Google, is no longer accessible in Iran. Google has cut access due to recent American sanctions on Iran. Access to Google Analytics was also terminated in June for the same reason.

Training on circumvention tools deemed illegal – Iran’s Cyber and Information Exchange Police in the province of North Khorasan stated that it is a criminal offence to sell, publish, provide unauthorised access to, or train people on the use of circumvention tools.

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The post Middle East and North Africa CyberWatch: June 29 – July 5, 2012 appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

• Sudan Media Crackdown
• Cyber Warfare
• Social Media Policing
• Blogging and Online Journalism in the MENA Region
• Syria Updates
• Post-Electoral Egypt
• News from Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace
• Gaming and Entertainment
• Iran Telecommunications Updates

Sudan Media Crackdown

Documenting the protests online – Anti-austerity protests in Sudan have highlighted both the creative use of social media to monitor and organise protest activity, as well as the hard stance that the Sudanese government has taken against online activists and other voices of dissent. Tight controls on information within the country have led to social media and the blogosphere being a key source of uncensored information. Sources such as the Twitter hashtag #SudanRevolts and its related blog site have distributed photos and stories of the protests online.  Support for the student-led protests has been internationalized.  An online campaign in the form of netizens taking pictures of themselves while holding signs in support of the protests has gone viral, with messages from Egypt, America, Kuwait, the UK, Syria, and Indonesia being sent across on Twitter and Facebook.

The Sudanese government’s response – The role that online media, bloggers, and social media activists have played in the protest movement has not been lost on Sudanese authorities. Twitter activists involved with the protest movement have been arrested, including Usamah Mohammed Ali who had been tweeting on the security presence in various areas of Khartoum. This week, Ahram Online journalist Salma El-Wardany and blogger Maha El-Senussi, who were previously reported arrested in Khartoum, were released, with El-Wardany deported back to Egypt. El-Senussi was, however, briefly re-arrested on the night of 26 June and her computer and phone were confiscated by security forces.

The Sudanese government has also increased its filtering of “dissident” media sites, including the online newspaper Hurriyat Sudan for its coverage of the protests in Khartoum and other cities.  In response to its blocking, Hurriyat Sudan has encouraged users to download Ultrasurf to access its site within the country.  While a general Internet shutdown as seen in Egypt last year has not yet occurred, rumors of a telecommunications “blackout” spread across Sudanese social media, with even the US Embassy in Khartoum warning of potential mobile outages.

It is uncertain at this point whether the Sudanese protests will gain enough momentum to form a broader anti-government revolt and lead to change in the political status quo as in Tunisia or neighboring Egypt, or simply peter out under pressure from the government and security forces. As civil strife in the country will continue, so will the monitoring of the situation by its netizens in much the same way as it had in the rest of the MENA  region during the Arab Spring. How severely the Sudanese government responds to this online circumvention and undermining of state-controlled information sources, however, is still to be determined.

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Cyber Warfare

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is preparing for response to cyber attacks – Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Mostafa Izadi, believes that the enemy will use cyberspace and satellite networks to undermine Iranian security. “The enemy will use its intelligence to undermine the Islamic system, and it is the responsibility of the Revolutionary Guard to defend the republic and its values by preparing itself for such an attack,” he said.

Cyber war on Islamic identity in Iran – The acting Chief of the Joint Staff of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has expressed that “the new state of the world”, with advancements in the field of telecommunications and the creation of a shared cyberspace, has changed the nature of threats against the Islamic Republic. He continued to express that Iran’s enemies know that the greatest success of the Islamic system is the “alert minds and faithful hearts of the people”. If the enemy is able to brainwash and attack the very identity of the people who are a part of this society, then there will be no defence.

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Social Media Policing

Iranian police make second arrest for blasphemy in cyberspace – Following last week’s news of the first such arrest, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported that another arrest has been made in the province of Hamedan after police discovered blasphemous statements made on a social network website.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) denounced Oman‘s continuing crackdown on activists and bloggers. Dozens of activists have been arrested in the past two weeks, many for their activities on Facebook and Twitter. Some have since been released, but not before being forced to sign statements promising that they will not participate in any demonstrations or protests in the country. Others who remain in detention are on a hunger strike to protest the increased arrests and attacks on freedom of speech.

Twitter has faced criticism over its announcement that it will comply with local laws and block tweets on a country-by-country basis. Activists from the MENA region have expressed concerns that this will allow governments to censor the type of online content that has fueled Arab Spring protests. Some are wondering whether a $300 million investment in Twitter by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia was what prompted the change in policy. The company has promised to be transparent, posting take-down requests at ChillingEffects.org, and said that the removed content will still be available to users in other parts of the world.

Tunisian citizen Jabeur Mejri, who was jailed in March for posting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad “in the nude” and “slanderous” pictures of other prominent Tunisian figures on Facebook, has lost his appeal. He was sentenced to seven and a half years for “transgressing morality, defamation and disrupting public order”. Charges of this type have been on the rise since the Islamist Ennahda (Renaissance) party won Tunisia’s first post-revolution polls in October 2011.

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Blogging and Online Journalism in the MENA Region

Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab released from jail – Nabeel Rajab was released from jail on 28 June. MENA Cyber Watch had reported last week on the European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights’s (EBOHR) condemnation of his arrest, which many believe was due to his criticism of the Prime Minister of Bahrain on Twitter. Prosecutors had earlier released a statement saying that they received complaints about Rajab talking “on social networks about the people of [the province of] Muharaq in a way that questioned their patriotism and insulted them.” He is now on trial for four separate charges – two for posting Twitter comments deemed insulting to the regime and the people and two for protests. His next hearing will be on 9 July.

The government’s repeated harassment of Rajab for posting “insulting comments on Twitter” can be read as a pretext for cracking down on a particularly vocal pro-democracy advocate.

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Syria Updates

EU imposes fresh sanctions on Syria – On 25 June, the EU imposed new sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, targeting a television station as well as six government ministries and a bank. The General Organization of Radio and TV, which operates Syria’s state-owned television channels and government radio stations, was sanctioned because it is a “state-run agency subordinate to Syria’s Ministry of Information and as such supports and promotes its information policy.” The EU further criticized it for inciting violence against the population, serving as a propaganda instrument, and spreading disinformation.

Syrian rebels storm pro-Assad TV station – On 27 June, Syrian gunmen stormed the headquarters of al-Ikhbariya TV, a pro-government TV channel. The attack resulted in the deaths of three reporters and four security guards, as well as the bombing of a building. While privately owned, al-Ikhbariya has reportedly sought to serve as a counterweight to a “campaign of misinformation by Western and Arab satellite channels on the uprising.” The channel had broadcasted a speech by President al-Assad the day prior. The attack raises questions about the targeting of civilian institutions and whether the rebels’ action can be viewed on par with the regime’s campaign of media censorship and stifling of opposition voices.

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Post-Electoral Egypt

The “Morsi Meter” – Al Arabiyya TV reports that a group of Egyptian youth have launched a website called “Morsi Meter” to monitor the performance of the new Egyptian president. The website enumerates the five points that together form Morsi’s first 100-day program: bread, traffic, security, fuel, and cleanliness. The solutions proposed by Morsi are then listed so that each can be checked off if and when it is implemented. The website is an example of the use of social media and ICTs to ensure political accountability on the ground.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Internet – The victory of Mohamed Morsi has engendered contrasting reactions from officials in the telecom sector regarding Internet freedom. Daily News Egypt reports that some fear the Muslim Brotherhood will impose restrictions on Internet use that will ultimately limit freedom of thought and innovation. However, most people expect that there will be a greater reliance on the Internet due to the political parties’ heavy use of technology during the election campaigns.

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News from Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace

Mehr News Agency, a privately-owned news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Propagation Organization, published a roundup of the week’s activities of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace:

• Mehdi Akhavan Behabadi, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and Director of the National Center for Cyberspace, noted in his first press conference that the current state of the country’s cyberspace devices is the council’s biggest priority.

• Since its creation in March, four Council meetings have been held in the presence of the Iranian President.

• The head of the Council responded to questions about the its role in the filtering of websites by stating that it will not play a direct role. He explained that the Council’s role is not in the implementation of policies, but rather in decision-making, coordinating of other cyberspace institutions, and overall performance monitoring.

• The decree by Ayatollah Khamenei, which led to the establishment of the Council, will not be made public as it contains sensitive information about hostile actions by Iran’s enemies.

• The former Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Technology has said that the Ministry of Communications is now required to coordinate its actions with the Council. It will also need to obtain approval to ensure that its activities are within the Council’s guidelines. This signifies the increasingly important role that the newly created Council will play.

Mehr News Agency also reported that the General Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Information and Communications Technology, Saeed Salarian, has said that the Council will assess websites of all government institutions and define a standard series of templates and styles to be followed by all such web pages in order to “help national progress”.

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Gaming and Entertainment

“Iran: Hub of game development in the Islamic World” – Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, has said: “Participation in the field of computer game development has increased by 100 percent in the past year.” He believes that Western countries are developing games that portray the Islamic world, and through that, the Iranian nation, as cruel and fierce. He continued: “Given that the rest of the Islamic world expects Iran to take a lead in the field of game development in order to become less dependent on Western games, we are committed to fulfilling this expectation.”

The development of Iran army’s first video game, Combat in the Gulf of Aden, can be viewed as a sign of the government’s commitment to this issue.

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Iran Telecommunications Updates

Righ-Tel’s Future in Limbo – Mobna News Agency reported that bandwidth limitations, the high cost of Internet access, and cultural issues have led to the uncertain future of Righ-Tel, the country’s third Internet operator. This news comes only one week after we reported about its increased network coverage in the cities of Mashhad and Qom.

Ali Akbar Jalali, an IT expert, told Mobna that until issues regarding bandwidth and cost are resolved, it is unlikely that Righ-Tel will succeed.

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The post Middle East and North Africa CyberWatch: June 22 – 29, 2012 appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

Two men have been convicted and sentenced to prison in Tunisia for posting Facebook images of the Prophet Muhammad in a compromising position, a court decision that drew support Friday from the presidency of this once staunchly secular country.

Jaber Majeri and Ghazi Jribi were convicted on March 28 by a Tunisian court for “insulting the sacred” after they posted images of the prophet purportedly being intimate with one of his wives, Aisha. They were each sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and fined $800.

The verdict, which was made public Thursday, has been condemned by some as an attack on freedom of expression and a mark of the rising tide of religious conservatism in the country since a popular uprising ousted a dictator a year ago.

Since the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a moderate Islamist party Ennahda won elections in October but has promised not to enshrine Islamic law in the new constitution. That has put it at odds with a vocal minority of hardline Muslims known as Salafis.

For the full article, see here.

The post Tunisia’s presidency backs conviction of men for insulting Islam on Facebook appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

The new chairman and CEO of the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI), Moez Chakchouk, told participants at the Arab Bloggers Meeting today that western companies offered significant discounts on use of censorship software to the Tunisian government in exchange for testing and bug-tracking. He said confidentiality contracts preclude him from naming the companies, but said the Internet Agency has extracted itself from these partnerships and thus can no longer afford to censor, even if they wished to (he says they don’t anymore).

Thanks to the change in leadership of the government agency previously charged with censorship and surveillance, Chakchouk is now encouraging bloggers and activists to push for better regulation and constitutional protections for online free speech.

For the full article, see here.

The post Tunisia secretly tested censorship software for western companies appeared first on The Citizen Lab.

For instance, over the past few months “the Syrian regime and its supporters have been devising and implementing new ways of targeting social media users who express favour toward the opposition”. Their methods range from flooding Twitter hashtags with unrelated links to hacking to defacing opposition sites. Ms. York also mentioned the Information Warfare Monitor’s research findings as an example, which reports on a new attempt to mount an attack on pro-opposition Syrian Facebook users.

For the full article, see here.

The post Manipulating social networks appeared first on The Citizen Lab.