If you're a diplomat, journalist, vocal activist, politician, or anyone else with the potential to stir the pot, the odds are pretty good that you're currently being watched by the United States government or an enterprise that has skin in the geopolitical game. Where even a decade ago, we only really had to worry about mass surveillance by the NSA or its Five Eyes pals, today, there's off-the-shelf spook software available to any entity with money to burn. According to a report from the Atlantic Council, America is currently the largest customer of commercial spyware by a wide margin.
Financial firms and hedge funds like ThreadNeedle Asset Management, Millennium Global Investment Management, D.E. Shaw Group., and companies/corporate subsidiaries like AE Industrial Partners, Dufresne Holdings (who currently control a stake in NSO Group), and Blackstone Group have invested more cash in keeping tabs on individuals and organizations of concern than most of us will see in a lifetime. Some of this has been done in the name of corporate intelligence/counter-intelligence—some to keep tabs on folks who may pose a threat to their clients' income.
Want to talk about government? ICE has been forking over the benjamins to get in on the off-the-shelf spyware action, too. Last year, WIRED pointed out that the masked Goonstapo goose-steppers paid two million dollars to gain access to surveillance solutions that Paragon Software provides.
A lot of you might not care about people having a peek into your private life. But if the thought of being watched makes your ass crawl, there are a few things you can do to mitigate the problem. Start by paying a visit to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Surveillance Self-Defense website. It's full of best practices and software that you can use to minimize access to your online comings and goings. Lock down your Android device or iPhone. Start using a secure private messaging platform like Signal. If you can tolerate the slow speeds, consider downloading a TOR browser (although doing so may draw the NSA's attention). Additionally, using VPNs like ProtonVPN is a smart idea.
Even if you've invested in anti-malware protection, it's a good idea to acquire some anti-phishing skills. With the way things have been going in the world, getting small online and in your everyday life is an easy, common-sense way to keep yourself safe and, hopefully, out of the all-seeing eye of the powers that be.
Previously:
• Shoshana Zuboff discusses her new book, 'Surveillance Capitalism'
• UK's new surveillance law creates a national browser history with a search engine to match
• FBI surveillance van from the 1980s on eBay
• Snowden and Venezuela: My bizarre experience in the surveillance state
