Pre-Owned

from here and here

Not to make you paranoid about buying used computers, but they probably should be shown at least a little extra care - wipe the drives and install a fresh operating system before they're used.

Your passwords are safe for now

from here (image source)

Add this the the long list of destructive ways to stop the bad guys from getting your data. Too bad they stop you from using it at the same time.

Live by the hack, die by the hack

from here and here

Even though the security company that discovered the malware vulnerability aren't publishing it, I have high hopes that people less scrupulous than them will use it to take the criminals down. That's not to say that I don't want the criminals in question to face justice, but rather I have my doubts whether most of them will, and in the absence of legal consequences, the increased cost due to business disruptions could conceivably make the operation less financially viable. Also, if the hack forces them to re-infect people or to infect even more people then that probably will increase their exposure with regards to law enforcement and might be the thing that gets them caught.

Trying to ensure it'll never be FULL of spyware

from here and here

People come up with all kinds of creative solutions when left to their own devices. They may not be good solutions, however. 

Like a clown car of spies

from here

Honestly, I thought there were too many when I only knew about two of them. Then I got curious and found four more. That's a lot of spying for such a small place.

No wonder they got banned

from here and here

I don't think NSO could reasonably claim to not know their products got misused, but I guess they should have been more proactive about dealing with it.

Malware Family sticker

Product Page

If you're familiar with malware families, this is not going to be anything like that. Instead, it just imagines various malware types as members of the family of things called "malware". It's also missing some malware types. Granted a lot of things can fall under the heading of trojan horse or bot, but if spyware gets it's own glyph then where's adware? Where are the downloaders, the droppers, the RATs? I guess the design would be too big if everything were included.

They are NSO much trouble

from here and here

In general it's hard to take down state-backed malware providers, but in this case I think Apple may dominate. And I, for one, will cheer them on if they actually manage to sue these spyware makers out of existence.

Do it again!

from here

They may not have been the biggest name in government spyware, but it's still good that they're gone.

I feel safer already

found on Reddit

Yeah, that's OK. That game wasn't fun anyway.

Methinks he doth protest too much

from here

I don't entirely buy the claim that Hacking Team is dead. It would be great if it were true, but it seems to me that they're trying a little too hard to make the world believe it. If it's really dead, why bother announcing the fact? Why would it matter what anyone thought at that point?

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail

from here

I really hope NSO group does not get any contracts to do contact tracing. I don't want to see their human-rights-abuse-facilitating tools get broader adoption than they already have. I realize contact tracing can help, but there's got to be a better way than using those particular tools. Maybe something like what's described in this comic.

On an unrelated note, today I learned that that saying in the title about hammer is actually know as Maslow's Hammer or the Law of the Instrument. Yes, the same Maslow that gave us the hierarchy of needs.

Not OK Google

found on Izismile

If being constantly spied on by devices and services is the price you pay for more relevant ads, the price is too high because I still won't buy.

Scourge of your online privacy

from here and here

Before it was just a browser plug-in collecting the data, but now apparently it's the anti-virus itself doing the dirty deed. I wonder if this is enough to classify Avast as a rogue security product.

Unfortunately this just reinforces the notion that if you aren't paying for the product then you are the product.

Why not both?

from here

The news that Avast (the anti-virus software brought to you by International Talk Like A Pirate Day) is selling the browsing data it collects to 3rd parties is definitely more than a little disappointing. One could imagine that they're trying to take out the competition; in which case one might accuse them of anti-competitive behaviour, but who wants healthy competition in that industry? It's certainly fair to say this represents a significant conflict of interest and a profound ethical lapse, however it remains to be seen if other members of the AV industry will hold them accountable since they've got such a terrible track record of doing that in the past.

Anthony van der Meer: Find my Phone

Watch on YouTube

Phone thieves better be careful they don't rip off someone who can track them down like this. Had the owner been more inclined to include the police in his plan the crook might have been arrested.

You can learn more about this on Reddit, where the owner/director did an AMA.

Let's call a spade a spade

from here

I saw the term surveillanceware used in this Ars Technica article and it got under my skin. I've also seen stalkerware and creepware, and they all facilitate the same thing - spying on the person using the device the malware is installed on. Why do we need all these terms for the same thing? Do they add anything meaningful? Not that I can see.

The term surveillanceware is particularly bad. Compared to "spy", the word "surveillance" is harder to spell, harder to say, and unfamiliar to the less educated members of society. If I were trying to give spyware a PR make-over, surveillanceware seems like a good way to do it, and that begs the question: who would try to do such a thing?

Someone didn't learn the rules

from here

If you're going to invest in a company like NSO Group, you've got to expect some backlash - especially when your supposed values are in conflict with those of NSO and their customers.

A rose by any other name...

found on Imgflip

And that's why I always answer "No" when asked if I want to send usage data or crash reports  or that sort of thing. If I want a vendor to have a piece of information for some reason, I will send it myself.

Don't leave yourself exposed

found on Memedroid