Research and Publications
Below are a selection of research reports and publications which I have authored or contributed to.
Research#
2023#
India: Damning new forensic investigation reveals repeated use of Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists - Amnesty International, December 2023
Serbia: Civil society threatened by spyware - Amnesty International, November 2023
‘Predator Files’ spyware scandal reveals brazen targeting of civil society, politicians and officials - Major investigation documenting the use of Intellexa’s Predator spyware to target civil society and politicians and government officials, Amnesty International, October 2023
Predator Files: Technical deep-dive into Intellexa Alliance’s surveillance products - Technical analysis of surveillance products and spyware offered by the Intellexa alliance, Amnesty International, October 2023
‘Predator Files’ investigation reveals catastrophic failure to regulate surveillance trade - Major collaborative investigation into the Intellexa Alliance by European Investigative Collaborations in partnership with Amnesty International, October 2023
Armenia/Azerbaijan: Pegasus spyware targeted Armenian public figures amid conflict - Amnesty International, May 2023
Global Surveillance: The Secretive Swiss Dealer Enabling Israeli Spy Firms - Supported investigation into a key enabler of the global SS7 surveillance industry, Haaretz and Der Spiegel, May 2023
Dominican Republic: Pegasus spyware discovered on prominent journalist’s phone - Amnesty International, May 2023
In-the-wild iPhone zero-day chain fixed - Uncovered (with Google TAG) an iPhone zero-day browser exploit used by a mercenary spyware company, resulting in an emergency update for all iPhone users (CVE-2023-28205, CVE-2023-28206), Amnesty International, April 2023
Amnesty International uncovers new hacking campaign linked to mercenary spyware company - Uncovered (with Google TAG) a zero-day exploit chain and spyware linked to a mercenary spyware company targeting Android users (CVE-2022-4262, CVE-2023-0266), Amnesty International, March 2023
“Team Jorge”: In the heart of a global disinformation machine - Provided technical and investigative expertise to major investigation into the hack-for-hire and disinformation industry, Forbidden Stories consortium, February 2023
2022#
Iran: State-Backed Hacking of Activists, Journalists, Politicians - Joint investigation between Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty International Security Lab, December 2022
Exploit archaeology: a forensic history of in-the-wild NSO Group exploits - Donncha Ó Cearbhaill and Bill Marczak, September 2022
Morocco/Western Sahara: Activist targeted with Pegasus spyware in recent months - Amnesty International, March 2022
Bahrain: Devices of three activists hacked with Pegasus spyware - Amnesty International, February 2022
Poland: Use of Pegasus spyware to hack politicians highlights threat to civil society - Amnesty International, January 2022
El Salvador: Amnesty International verifies use of Pegasus spyware for surveillance of journalists - Amnesty International, January 2022
2021#
Kazakhstan: Four activists’ mobile devices infected with Pegasus Spyware - Amnesty International, December 2021
Devices of Palestinian Human Rights Defenders Hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware - Amnesty International, November 2021
Hackers-for-hire in West Africa: Activist in Togo attacked with Indian-made spyware - Amnesty International, September 2021
Forensic Methodology Report: How to catch NSO Group's Pegasus - Amnesty International, July 2021
Massive data leak reveals Israeli NSO Group's spyware used to target activists, journalists, and political leaders globally - Amnesty International, July 2021
2020#
German-made FinSpy spyware found in Egypt, and Mac and Linux versions revealed - Amnesty International, September 2020
Moroccan Journalist Targeted With Network Injection Attacks Using NSO Group's Tools - Amnesty International, June 2020
India: Human Rights Defenders Targeted by a Coordinated Spyware Operation, Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab, June 2020
Bahrain, Kuwait and Norway contact tracing apps among most dangerous for privacy - Amnesty International, June 2020
Qatar: Contact tracing app security flaw exposed sensitive personal details of more than one million - Amnesty International, May 2020
Targeted Surveillance Attacks in Uzbekistan: An Old Threat with New Techniques - Amnesty International, March 2020
2019#
Morocco: Human Rights Defenders Targeted with NSO Group's Spyware - Amnesty International, October 2019
Evolving Phishing Attacks Targeting Journalists and Human Rights Defenders from the Middle-East and North Africa - Amnesty International, August 2019
Exodus: New Android Spyware Made in Italy - Security Without Borders, March 2019
Phishing attacks using third-party applications against Egyptian civil society organizations - Amnesty International, March 2019
2018 and earlier#
When Best Practice Isn't Good Enough: Large Campaigns of Phishing Attacks in Middle East and North Africa Target Privacy-Conscious Users - Amnesty International, December 2018
Amnesty International Among Targets of NSO-Powered Campaign - Amnesty International, August 2018
Human Rights Under Surveillance - Digital Threats Against Human Rights Defenders in Pakistan - Amnesty International, May 2018
Reliably compromising Ubuntu desktops by attacking the crash reporter - Personal research which uncovered exploitable remote code execution vulnerabilities in the default Ubuntu installation (CVE-2016-9949, CVE-2016-9950, CVE-2016-9951), Donncha O Cearbhaill, December 2016
Adios Hola: A critical analysis of security and privacy risks harms from a “community-powered” VPN - Adios Hola collaborators, May 2015
Synthesis and Evaluation of Removable Acyl Transfer Auxiliaries for Extended Chemical Ligation - Final year thesis for bachelor’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry, May 2015.