 | |
| Formation | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Type | Research Laboratory |
| Headquarters | University of Toronto |
| Location | |
Director | Ronald Deibert |
| Website | citizenlab |
TheCitizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at theMunk School of Global Affairs at theUniversity of Toronto, Canada. It was founded byRonald Deibert in 2001. The laboratory studies information controls that impact the openness and security of the Internet and that pose threats tohuman rights.[1] The organization uses a "mixed methods" approach which combines computer-generated interrogation,data mining, and analysis with intensivefield research, qualitativesocial science, and legal andpolicy analysis methods. The organization has played a major role in providing technical support to journalists investigating the use ofNSO Group'sPegasus spyware on journalists, politicians and human rights advocates.
The Citizen Lab was a founding partner of theOpenNet Initiative (2002–2013) and theInformation Warfare Monitor (2002–2012) projects. The organization also developed the original design of thePsiphon censorship circumvention software, which was spun out of the Lab into a private Canadian corporation (Psiphon Inc.) in 2008.
In a 2009 report "TrackingGhostNet", researchers uncovered a suspectedcyber espionage network of over 1,295 infected hosts in 103 countries between 2007 and 2009, a high percentage of which were high-value targets, includingministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organizations, news media, and NGOs. The study was one of the first public reports to reveal a cyber espionage network that targetedcivil society and government systems internationally.[2]
InShadows in the Cloud (2010), researchers documented a complex ecosystem of cyber espionage that systematically compromised government, business, academic, and other computer network systems inIndia, the offices of theDalai Lama, theUnited Nations, and several other countries.[3]
InMillion Dollar Dissident, published in August 2016, researchers discovered thatAhmed Mansoor, one of theUAE Five, a human rights defender in the United Arab Emirates, was targeted withPegasus software developed by Israeli cyber-intelligence firmNSO Group. Prior to the releases of the report, researchers contacted Apple who released a security update that patched the vulnerabilities exploited by the spyware operators.[4] Mansoor was imprisoned one year later and as of 2021, is still in jail.[5]
Researchers reported in October 2018, that NSO Group surveillance software was used to spy on the "inner circle" ofJamal Khashoggi just before his murder, "are being targeted in turn by international undercover operatives." A Citizen Lab October report revealed that NSO's "signature spy software" which had been placed on the iPhone of Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, one of Khashoggi's confidantes, months before. Abdulaziz said that Saudi Arabia spies used the hacking software to reveal Khashoggi's "private criticisms of the Saudi royal family". He said this "played a major role" in his death.[6][7]
According to a January 24, 2019AP News report, Citizen Lab researchers were "being targeted" by "international undercover operatives" for its work onNSO Group.[6]
In January 2019, Citizen Lab invited theAssociated Press to help reveal an undercover spy operation targeting reporters at Citizen Lab carried out by the firmBlack Cube.[8]Ronan Farrow added to this reporting through interviews with a source of his who was involved in that espionage incident, among others.[9]
In March 2019,The New York Times reported that Citizen Lab had been a target of the UAE contractorDarkMatter.[10]
A major international investigation from 2020-2022 into the use ofPegasus spyware on journalists, politicians and human rights activists around the world relied on Citizen Lab andAmnesty International's Security Lab for technical support.[11]
In 2021, Citizen Lab along with Amnesty International's Security Lab analysedFront Line Defenders' report on the hacking of devices of six Palestinianhuman rights defenders (two were dual nationals; one French, one American) working for civil society organisations based in theWest Bank. Four of the hacked devices used IsraeliSIM cards (which NSO Group claimed was not allowed).[12]
In 2023, Citizen Lab found evidence ofNSO Group's hacking toolPegasus in a war setting for the first time[13] as well as in the device of a lead investigator of a Mexican human rights investigation.[14]
BPR interviewed Ronald Deibert, director of Citizens Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, an interdisciplinary research organization focusing at the intersection of internet, global security and human rights. They have worked for the office of the Dalai Lama.