The mercenary spyware industry poses “one of the greatest modern threats to civil society, human rights and democracy”, a leading cybersecurity expert has warned, as countries grapple with the unregulated spread of powerful and invasive surveillance tools.
Ron Deibert, a political science professor at the University of Toronto and head of the Citizen Lab, will testify before a Canadian parliamentary committee on Tuesday afternoon about the growing threat he and others believe technology poses to citizens and democracies.
In prepared remarks shared with the Guardian ahead of testimony before a Canadian parliamentary committee, Deibert warned that the software used by law enforcement agencies and autocratic regimes was akin to “wiretapping on steroids” with little official oversight.
In June, Canada’s federal police agency admitted to using powerful spy technology. The tools, which were used in at least 10 investigations between 2018 and 2020, gave police access to text messages, emails, photos, videos, audio files, calendar entries and financial records. The software can also remotely turn on the camera and microphone on a suspect’s phone or laptop.
Civil rights groups condemned police use of the technology as “extremely dangerous” and the revelation prompted the House of Commons Ethics and Privacy Committee to call for a summer inquiry into the issue.
Deibert has previously briefed senior government officials in Canada and other democracies about the risks posed by the technology and the need for safeguards to regulate its use.
Last year, a joint investigation between the Guardian and other major international media outlets, called the Pegasus project, revealed that spyware licensed by Israeli firm NSO Group was used to hack smartphones belonging to journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. On Monday, the RCMP told the commission it never used the Pegasus software.
The brazen targeting of activists and journalists, as well as unanswered questions about possible national security risks, have led some governments to begin restricting the technology’s spread.
In 2021, the United States Department of Commerce announced that it had placed mercenary spyware companies like NSO on the country’s Enterprise List, effectively blacklisting them for their “malicious cyber activities” amid growing concern from US officials that the software poses a serious risk to national security.
By contrast, Canadian officials have shown little appetite to take such action, said Deibert, who has briefed senior Canadian officials in successive governments.
“Despite the nuclear-level capabilities of such spyware, it is remarkable that there has been no public debate in Canada before the RCMP (or other [law enforcement] agencies) using this type of technology,” he wrote in his notes.
Deibert, who will speak at 3pm EST, is expected to make a series of recommendations, including regulatory sanctions on firms known to facilitate human rights abuses abroad, lifetime bans from working with mercenary spyware firms for former employees of Canadian intelligence and law enforcement agencies and developing clear guidelines for public procurement.
The hearings are scheduled to last two days. On Monday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino defended the use of the spyware.
“There are strict requirements in the Criminal Code that require accountability, including what facts the RCMP will rely on prior to court authorization for this type of technique. There are other safeguards to ensure that only certain agents make these applications to the court,” he told parliament.
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