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Citizen Lab Director Warns Cyber Industry About US Authoritarian Descent
Thursday August 7, 2025. 02:02 AM , from Slashdot
![]() Deibert described the recent political events in the United States as a 'dramatic descent into authoritarianism,' but one that the cybersecurity community can help defend against. 'I think alarm bells need to be rung for this community that, at the very least, they should be aware of what's going on and hopefully they can not contribute to it, if not help reverse it,' Deibert told TechCrunch. 'I think that there comes a point at which you have to recognize that the landscape is changing around you, and the security problems you set out for yourselves are maybe trivial in light of the broader context and the insecurities that are being propelled forward in the absence of proper checks and balances and oversight, which are deteriorating,' said Deibert. Deibert is also concerned that big companies like Meta, Google, and Apple could take a step back in their efforts to fight against government spyware -- sometimes referred to as 'commercial' or 'mercenary' spyware -- by gutting their threat intelligence teams. Deibert believes there is a 'huge market failure when it comes to cybersecurity for global civil society,' a part of the population that generally cannot afford to get help from big security companies that typically serve governments and corporate clients. 'This market failure is going to get more acute as supporting institutions evaporate and attacks on civil society amplify,' he said. 'Whatever they can do to contribute to offset this market failure (e.g., pro bono work) will be essential to the future of liberal democracy worldwide,' he said. Deibert is concerned that these threat intelligence teams could be cut or at least reduced, given that the same companies have cut their moderation and safety teams. He told TechCrunch that threat intelligence teams, like the ones at Meta, are doing 'amazing work,' in part by staying siloed and separate from the commercial arms of their wider organizations. 'But the question is how long will that last?' said Deibert. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/08/06/228248/citizen-lab-director-warns-cyber-industry-about-us-aut...
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