05.26.16
Gemini version available ♊︎Warning: EPO Surveillance May Have Just Gotten Even More Intrusive
Source: Reporters Without Borders
Summary: BlueCoat, which the EPO uses to enable oppression inside its European premises, has just gotten even nastier and staff may be at risk
LAST year we wrote about BlueCoat’s relationship with the EPO. Some people already know about this, but some do not. BlueCoat is (or at least was) used to spy on EPO staff and censor EPO staff, as we first suspected quite a while back (this was later confirmed to us). We gave some background regarding BlueCoat at the time. It’s militarised, just like Control Risks. There are many militaristic elements to the EPO under Battistelli and it’s getting worse over time, to the point where one paranoid man in a suit has half a dozen bodyguards, costing a fortune.
“There are many militaristic elements to the EPO under Battistelli and it’s getting worse over time, to the point where one paranoid man in a suit has half a dozen bodyguards, costing a fortune.”“Please spread this really bad news which I read on Twitter,” wrote to us one person earlier today. It’s a reliable source.
“BlueCoat,” we’re told, “the company making TLS MitM equipment allegedly used by govs [AND EPO] to violate human rights, now has a REAL UNRESTRICTED CA.”
“Please spread this really bad news.”
“BlueCoat is used by the EPO to filter web traffic (at least it was in 2013/2014),” our source told us. This is something that we were able to verify independently. “From now on all these people (bastards) can intercept (as Man-in-the-middle, MitM) and read (possibly) without that you even notice also https:// traffic because your browser will trust them, because they have a real unrestricted certificate -like your bank, and so on.Please spread this really bad news.
“Here are some links.”
To be clear: BlueCoat, the company making TLS MitM equipment allegedly used by govs to violate human rights, now has a REAL UNRESTRICTED CA.
— Filippo Valsorda (@FiloSottile) May 26, 2016
BlueCoat now has a CA signed by Symantec https://t.co/8OXmtpT6eX
Here's how to untrust it https://t.co/NDlbqKqqld pic.twitter.com/mBD68nrVsD
— Filippo Valsorda (@FiloSottile) May 26, 2016
Network gear exists that can read https traffic inside (usually regulated) companies. This can decrypt anywhere. https://t.co/rVwBJeA7TS
— Kenn White (@kennwhite) May 26, 2016
This now-deleted tweet said: “network interception device manufacturer granted a Certificate Authority able to MitM HTTPS on any computer.”
“Remedy,” we’re told, “partially, but perhaps not for unlucky sheep in the office,” is this. “Here’s how to untrust it,” apparently believes our source, although that in itself may arouse suspicion from within the Office. This may have gone on for quite some time because, to quote the blog post: “This month an interesting one popped up, generated apparently in September 2015: “Blue Coat Public Services Intermediate CA”, signed by Symantec. (No certificates signed by this CA have reached the CT logs or Censys so far.)”
Staff representatives of the EPO, albeit besieged and suppressed, might wish to report to European authorities which kind of parties the EPO is associating itself with. Under Battistelli, in the widely notorious Eponia, human rights are respected no more than in Bahrain. █
ᶃ Gemini Space
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