Apple

The Corporate Intelligence Village Voice
Raven Special Risks, CIFAL, Riskology, Sibylline

Appointments, financial results, new contracts: each week, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community. This week we go to London and Tashkent.

LondonFormer Control Risks exec Michael Haughey returns from Singapore.

TashkentJoanna Golas keeps CIFAL's French networks in the loop.

LondonRiskology bows out after the death of co-founder.

Austin/LondonSibylline handles Apple's intelligence threats.

Singapore
Singapore's Coseinc disappearing from internet following US sanctions

Since the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) placed it under sanctions in November last year, Singapore's Coseinc, which operates the pwn0rama zero-day vulnerabilities programme, is gradually being erased from the internet.

China, India
India joins battle against China's Tencent

The Chinese tech giant, which is at the heart of a major battle in Southeast Asia, is the main target of a fresh ban on some 54 new apps by the Indian government. The apps in question are all still available in Europe, Intelligence Online has discovered.

Ireland, United Kingdom
Irish Data Protection Commission beefs up technical investigation capacities with help from private sector

The regulator, which has come under attack for not being tougher with the US tech giants, has teamed with a British forensics expert and four international accounting firms to bolster its investigations.

Spotlight | Europe, Israel, United States
Wi-Fi protocol evolution is turning agencies away from dedicated interception systems

The increasing use of randomised MAC addresses has made Wi-Fi interception more difficult and tools less stable. A similar process of obfuscation of the unique identifier is being implemented by the 5G network, which does not bode well for the future use of current interception tools.

Russia
Russia's Operation Zero enters increasingly political zero-day market

As Washington seeks to regulate the sale of vulnerabilities to its advantage, a new Russian player has emerged on the scene: Operation Zero, founded by researcher Sergey Zelenyuk.

Israel, United States
Israeli cyber firm Cobwebs weaves ties with US intelligence

Present in the US since 2019, Israel's Cobwebs Technologies has won its first contract with the US intelligence community, supplying its platform WebLoc to the Office of Naval Intelligence.

China
Apple Funds backs China's future cyber stars

Apple Funds has invested in several firms that have since been bought up by China's biggest tech groups. Another one has just secured an investment from Qi An Xin, a leading cybersecurity company.

Spotlight | Israel
NSO forges ahead with IPO plans

Despite its media woes, NSO Group is preparing its listing on the Tel Aviv stock market at a valuation that may be higher than before the recent hail of bad publicity.

United Kingdom, United States
US cyber forensics firm Grayshift plants flag in UK

The US iPhone decryption company Grayshift has opened an office in London as part of a rapid expansion following a funding round in October 2020.

Europe
Founded by former Carabinieri, bitCorp consolidates its position in the Italian cyber intelligence market

Italian cyber intelligence newcomer bitCorp, which was founded by two former Carabinieri intelligence officers, offers tailor-made services for the Italian special forces and intelligence services.

China, Europe
Beijing Risk Control lands new contract to protect European diplomats

The security firm, headed by a former public security agent, is a partner to the European Union delegation in Beijing.

United States
Google battles zero day brokers as much as zero days itself

Recent clashes between Google security researchers and zero days broker Zerodium highlight diametrically opposed conceptions of the fight against cyber flaws. The tension comes at a time when Zerodium is hoping to boost its cooperation with major Silicon Valley firms.

Australia
Canberra's new zero-day bounty hunter Duasynt

The Australian intelligence services are constantly on the lookout for the latest cyber tools and has a growing domestic pool of talent to dip into.

United States
Bird Dog Investigator app benefits from its Diligence connection

Bird Dog Investigator, an application which aims to assist private investigators in carrying out their field work, is bringing together an increasing number of companies set up by veterans of Nick Day's private investigations firm Diligence.

France
French cyber soldiers are more interested in Apple's smartphone vulnerabilities than Huawei's

DGA-MI, which is responsible for cyber defence at the French armed forces ministry, has issued a new shopping list as it pursues its investigations into smartphones and tablet security weaknesses. Its list is not based on the phone manufacturers' market shares, however, and gives an idea of the lines of research the French military are pursuing.