Marcus Michaelsen

Spear phishing: how to stay safe and prevent advanced attacks against civil society - Access Now Join us to learn and take action to prevent spear phishing and other digital attacks against activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.

How can you detect spear-phishing attacks before it’s too late?

Join the first webinar of our new series, “Safe and Strong,” on March 10, which will cover new trends and share practical tips for civil society to raise its defenses.

Register here:
accessnow.org/digital-security-webinars

1/ NEW: There’s currently a heavy push over X in support of (1) the ongoing attacks on Iran (2) Reza Pahlavi. It’s hard to quickly quantify this wave, but anecdotal evidence shows that the main support hashtags - as well as by the *real* people promoting them - are also pushed inorganically.

Submissions to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances: And the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances - The Citizen Lab Citizen Lab researchers have co-authored two submissions to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances.  One submission focuses on digital...

Sarah McKune, @nateschenkkan.bsky.social, an anonymous @citizenlab.ca researcher, @yaqiu.bsky.social & I have co-authored a UN submission on the enforced disappearance of migrants in the context of transnational repression:
citizenlab.ca/submissions-...

Journalism under attack: Predator spyware in Angola  - Amnesty International Security Lab A new investigation by the Security Lab uncovers the first forensically confirmed case of the Predator spyware being used to target civil society in Angola. 

https://securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2026/02/journalism-under-attack-predator-spyware-in-angola/

Not Safe for Politics: Cellebrite Used on Kenyan Activist and Politician Boniface Mwangi - The Citizen Lab Following the widely-condemned arrest in July 2025 of prominent Kenyan opposition voice Boniface Mwangi, the Citizen Lab analyzed artefacts from devices seized during the arrest. We found that Cellebr...

NEW – “Not Safe for Politics: Cellebrite Used on Kenyan Activist and Politician Boniface Mwangi”

New research shows that Kenyan authorities used Cellebrite’s forensic extraction tools to access activist Boniface Mwangi’s phone.

Read: citizenlab.ca/research/cel...

Not Safe for Politics: Cellebrite Used on Kenyan Activist and Politician Boniface Mwangi - The Citizen Lab Following the widely-condemned arrest in July 2025 of prominent Kenyan opposition voice Boniface Mwangi, the Citizen Lab analyzed artefacts from devices seized during the arrest. We found that Cellebr...

NEW @citizenlab.ca report: Cellebrite Used on Kenyan Activist and Politician Boniface Mwangi

citizenlab.ca/research/cel...

Kenyan authorities used Israeli tech to crack activist’s phone, report claims Citizen Lab report suggests Cellebrite software was used to break into Boniface Mwangi’s phone while he was under arrest

Please read our latest on how Israel's Cellebrite is being used to break into the phone of a prominent pro-democracy activist. This time, in Kenya. Guess who else has access to this tool? (with Carlos Mureithi) cc @rondeibert.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Read the latest Spotlight🔆on Freedom:

⛓️‍How to Support Iranians in Their Tireless Struggle for Freedom
🟧 NEW Transnational Repression (TNR) Watch
📢 ANNOUNCEMENT: Freedom House Appoints Jamie Fly as Chief Executive Officer

More: bit.ly/45RmScP
Subscribe: bit.ly/Subscribe_FHnewsletter

Great to see @nateschenkkan.bsky.social presenting our report “Perpetrators & methods of transnational repression and possible counter strategies” (co-authored w/ @emiledirks.bsky.social @zecsaky.bsky.social & me) in the @afet.europarl.europa.eu

Full report: www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en...

Autokratische Regime gehen auch in Deutschland gegen Gegner vor Immer hemmungsloser gehen autokratische Regime auch in Deutschland gegen ihre Gegner vor. Das zeigen Recherchen von Report Mainz. Sicherheitsbehörden warnen vor einer Gefahr für die Demokratie. Betrof...

Transnational repression in Germany: at least 18 countries have threatened exiles and diasporas living in the country. @tagesschau.bsky.social sheds light on some cases and slowly emerging policy measures, w/ @basmamostafa.bsky.social @tibetinitiative.bsky.social www.tagesschau.de/investigativ...

🚨 New report alert! 🚨

Our new study for the European Parliament on transnational repression in the EU is live!

Co-authored with @zecsaky.bsky.social, @emiledirks.bsky.social, and @alexdukalskis.bsky.social: a great team to work with.

‘After the blackout, they really started killing’: horror... Human rights groups and Iranians with satellite links have detailed the regime’s bloody response to protesters after its internet shutdown cut off access to the outside world

"Five days later, the same doctor came back online long enough to describe a nightmare scenario: the first thing he told Qorashi was he could still see “blood in the streets”, during his journey to work at the hospital."

How Iran's brutal crackdown unfolded, my piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social

Battles Over Truth Rage Online Amid Iran’s Internet Blackout

Our PRISONBREAK report @citizenlab.ca is cited in this new NYT story on the manipulation of narratives surrounding the Iranian protests.

Iran Enters a New Age of Digital Isolation - Filterwatch Exclusive intelligence obtained by Filterwatch reveals that the Islamic Republic has abandoned its traditional model of mass internet censorship in favor of a new, far darker strategy: "Absolute Digit...

Irancell’s CEO was dismissed over delays in internet shutdowns. Doran & Yaftar are tasked with developing DPI to detect Starlink-connected VPNs. Mohammad Amin Aghamiri & Mehdi SeifAbadi are key decision-makers.
filter.watch/english/2026...

How Doubt Became a Weapon in Iran AI manipulation, and the very suspicion of it, serves those who have the most to hide.

If you want to know about the future of AI, take a look at the kaleidoscope of disinfo and psychological operations underway in Iran 🇮🇷

This excellent piece by @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com is a great start

www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Deutscher Bundestag - Diskurs über Menschenrechtspolitik der Bundesregierung Mit dem 16. Bericht der Bundesregierung über ihre Menschenrechtspolitik (20/14480) hat sich der Ausschuss für Menschenrechte und humanitäre Hilfe bei einer öffentlichen Anhörung am...

It was an honor (and exciting) to testify on transnational repression and how to address it in the Human Rights Committee of the German Bundestag. Let’s hope the interest in the issue translates into concrete steps for better protecting those at risk. www.bundestag.de/dokumente/te...

Starlink terminals rely on GPS signals to locate themselves and connect to satellites. By disrupting these signals, Iranian authorities can render the devices unreliable without touching the satellites themselves. When Russia tried similar jamming in Ukraine, SpaceX responded within hours with software updates that restored service. So far, no such fix has arrived for Iran. SpaceX has not commented on the disruption.

Amidst mass killings and internet shutdowns the Iranian regime has also found a way to jam access to Starlink:

restofworld.org/2026/iran-st...
@restofworld.org

Access Now - #KeepItOn: Iran plunged into digital darkness, concealing human rights abuses join the international community, including the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, in calling on Iran to immediately restore internet and mobile communications and in demanding accou...

After taking to the streets, people in Iran have now been disconnected from the rest of the world for more than five days. That’s +120 hours in the dark!

Alongside +19 orgs, we demand that authorities immediately restore internet access and uphold rights.

www.accessnow.org/press-releas...

Is the Iranian Regime About to Collapse? Five conditions determine whether revolutions succeed. For the first time since 1979, Iran meets nearly all of them.

"What keeps the Iranian regime alive is its lethal force." Difficult to apprehend how this will end. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

1/ Russian disinfo sponsors can’t believe their luck at the chaos spurred by their American counterparts. Not only politicians, but their tech enablers too, of course.

Meet “Budjetti”. “She” is on X, of course. Openly antisemitic, racist, anti-Ukraine. And completely unchallenged.

New article by Citizen Lab senior legal advisor @sanstis.bsky.social 👉 "Civil society and access to justice: challenges of seeking remedy in the global fight against spyware"

Read it here: www-tandfonline-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/doi/full/10....

For 8 days people in #Iran are protesting because daily life has become impossible.

Protests & students strikes have continued across more than 78 cities.

Despite intimidation, violence & death! people keep showing up. It's not about a moment. It's about a breaking point.
1/5

Zumretay Arkin is sharing her experience with Transnational Repression by China.

Let’s #StopTransnationalRepression so human rights advocates like her can go from nowhere safe to now here safe.

Follow me for more info on how to do that.

Autocratic regimes intimidate people in exile by threatening their families in their home countries.

That’s why we have to #StopTransnationalRepression. Follow me for more info on how to do that.

Meet the team that hunts government spyware For years, Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline has been aiding journalists and dissidents who have been targeted with government spyware. This is how they operate.

I am happy to see this article about the team I am proud to be part of and to manage every day. All my love to the most outstanding team.( Helpline at @accessnow.org )

Meet the team that investigates when journalists and activists get hacked with government spyware.

techcrunch.com/2025/12/27/m...

Meet the man hunting the spies in your smartphone Ronald Deibert and his research group, the Citizen Lab, have rigorously worked to unveil alarming digital threats for the past two decades. Now, he warns, this kind of work is under threat.

Meet the man hunting the spies in your smartphone: a profile of @rondeibert.bsky.social www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/24/1...

Does anyone still want to help the Uyghurs? Chinese pressure and migration backlashes may result in many being sent back to China

For years, TNR experts like @nateschenkkan.bsky.social have long warned that immigration policy is key to confronting transnational repression. This piece shows how host states are now contributing to the repression of Uyghur exiles and diaspora communities. #TNR
www.economist.com/china/2025/1...

Sicherheitsbehörden und Databroker: Bundesregierung macht Datenkauf zum Staatsgeheimnis Die Bundesregierung verweigert Transparenz darüber, ob deutsche Sicherheitsbehörden bei Datenhändlern einkaufen. Die Frage ist brisant, denn für den Kauf gäbe es keine sichere Rechtsgrundlage. Das zei...

The German government completely refuses to tell parliament whether German federal police uses unlawfully processed mass behavioral/location data from digital advertising for surveillance purposes or not.

Highly problematic in terms of democratic accountability.
netzpolitik.org/2025/sicherh...

Great report from @cdt.org on the failures of export control around spyware in the EU.

Zu sehen sind ehem. Stipendiat*innen + "RSF Berlin Fellowships - Apply for a safe stay in Berlin, digital security training, resilience workshops and networking!"

The RSF Berlin Fellowship 2026 is open for applications! Journalists from countries with restricted press freedom can apply for a safe stay in #Berlin, digital security training, resilience workshops and networking. It runs from June until November. www.reporter-ohne-grenzen.de/fellowship-p...