Five Eyes Countries Fight Back Against Cyber Crimes, But Ignore CSAM

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Canadian spy agency targeted foreign hackers to ‘impose a cost’

for cybercrime

Unfortunately, Child Sex Abuse Images are not one of them

By Alex Boutilier  Global News

Posted December 7, 2021 9:47 am

Canada’s electronic spy agency acknowledged Monday it has conducted cyber operations against foreign hackers to “impose a cost” for the growing levels of cybercrime.

It is the first time the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) has publicly acknowledged the use of “foreign cyber operations” — a category of operations that can include both “active” (offensive) or defensive cyber tools.

The agency said its new mandate “gives CSE the legal authority to conduct cyber operations to disrupt foreign-based threats to Canada, including cybercriminals.”

“Although we cannot comment on our use of foreign cyber operations (active and defensive cyber operations) or provide operational statistics, we can confirm we have the tools we need to impose a cost on the people behind these kinds of incidents,” wrote CSE spokesperson Evan Koronewski in a statement to Global News.

“We can also confirm we are using these tools for such purposes, and working together with Canadian law enforcement where appropriate against cybercrime.”

CSE’s acknowledgment of cyber operations against non-state actors is being called a “watershed” moment for the agency, which operated largely in the shadows until thrust into headlines by Edward Snowden’s disclosures in 2013.

The agency was given explicit authority to conduct “active” operations by the Liberal government in 2019 — albeit under considerable restrictions. The example the agency likes to use is taking action to disrupt a terrorist group’s communications networks to prevent them from planning an attack. Another example would be shutting down networks of a criminal or state-backed group that is actively hacking the Canadian government.

Because hacking a criminal group, intelligence agency or terrorist organization based in a foreign country could violate that country’s laws, CSE’s active measures require the sign-off of both the minister of defence and the foreign affairs minister. The actions must not target Canadians or anyone in Canada.

“(This) marks a time where, rather than relying on a criminal justice agency to address criminal behaviours, the Canadian government is instead using its most secretive and best-resourced intelligence agency to impede the activities of criminals,” Christopher Parsons, a cybersecurity researcher with Citizen Lab, told Global News.

“While it is positive that the CSE is admitting it has used these powers — and, in doing so, has joined the ranks of its other Five Eyes intelligence partners — there is still much to learn. … (Does this) signify the Government of Canada will be increasingly reliant on cyber operations to disrupt criminals, without trial or conviction, instead of trying to bring them to justice?”

The cyber intelligence agency, along with the RCMP, warned Monday that ransomware attacks against critical Canadian sectors — such as health care, energy and manufacturing — are on the rise.

The Liberal government released an open letter to Canadians urging organizations to beef up their cybersecurity, noting that the cost of ransomware attacks —where hackers lock down networks and data, and demand a ransom to unlock them — are increasing dramatically over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Together with law enforcement, and other federal and international partners, we are working hard to make threat information more publicly available and provide you with specific advice and guidance to help you stay safe from the impacts of ransomware,” the letter, signed by four Liberal cabinet ministers, read.

“Canada is also working closely with our allies to pursue cyber threat actors and disrupt their capabilities.”

There are signs — including CSE’s public acknowledgment Monday — that those “disruption” efforts are increasing.

On Monday, the New York Times reported that Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of U.S. Cyber Command, acknowledged the military had turned its sophisticated cyber arsenal against criminal hackers.

“The first thing we have to do is to understand the adversary and their insights better than we’ve ever understood them before,” Nakasone told the Times, indicating ransomware groups were among those targeted.

“Before, during and since, with a number of elements of our government, we have taken actions and we have imposed costs. … That’s an important piece that we should always be mindful of.”

That language of “imposing costs” — which CSE also deployed — is significant, said Carleton University professor and security researcher Stephanie Carvin. Carvin said it implies the actions CSE is taking is not just to stop hacks against Canadian organizations, but as a deterrent.

“It’s a big day in Canadian cybersecurity history,” Carvin, a former intelligence analyst, said in an interview.

“Cybercrime is the primary cyber threat to Canada. … I wonder if the confirmation itself is just kind of the CSE acknowledging the scope of the problem is so severe that they have to become involved as well.”

Unfortunately, the primary cyber threat in Canada and most other countries is child sexual abuse images. But governments don't understand this, nor do they understand the destruction being done especially to a generation of girls by this horrific crime. 

Canada has done literally nothing to address this issue in the 6 years of Trudeau's hapless government.

‘Take a Selfie with God and I’ll Resign,’ says Duterte

There is a lot to like about Rodrigo Duterte, and a lot to hate. His efforts to clean up the Philippines drug culture is both laudible and horrifying, but I wish he would extend his enthusiasm to cleaning up the rampant child sex abuse that makes the Philippines the world's premier hotspot for child sex tourism and child pornography. 

One good thing about Duterte is that Christians don't have to apologize for him. We do have to pray for him because he has the most pathetic grasp of theology of almost any world leader.

© Romeo Ranoco / Reuters

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has promised to resign immediately – if a Christian can show him any proof that God exists. It comes just weeks after he outraged religious groups for calling God “stupid.”

The outspoken leader made the vow on Friday during one of his signature freestyle speeches. Duterte said if anyone can say that they have either “been to heaven, talked to God [or] saw him personally,” he would resign as president “tonight.”

“I just need one witness who will say, ‘Mayor, those fools at the church ordered me to go to heaven and talk to God. God really exists. We have a picture together and I brought a selfie,’” he added, during the opening of a science and technology event in southern Davao city.

I would like to introduce you to Someone called Jesus. Have you heard of Him as other than a curse word? I dare you to find out Who He is.

Duterte then hit out at the Catholic Church by asking why followers are required to donate money to the Church. “If you are really helping people, why do you ask money from them?” he questioned.

This isn’t the first time the 73-year old has criticized Christian groups and their ‘God.’ In June, Duterte called God “stupid” during a discussion about the Biblical story of creation. In response, Christian groups accused him of insulting God and demanded an apology, to which the president replied: “Not in a million years.”

You might get a million years to change your mind! But I don't think it will take that long.

Duterte's tirade against God started, at the beginning, with Adam and Eve. With God allowing them to choose to sin and thereby contaminating every human being born after them, except Jesus, with their sin. Duterte called it stupid, and at first glance, in fact after several glances, it still appears pretty stupid from the view of an extremely limited human mind.

But what was God thinking? He didn't have to allow Satan into the Garden of Eden, did He? He threw him out of Heaven after he sinned against God, but threw him to earth where he could tempt and infect all of mankind. How bright was that?

One of the erroneous assumptions we make as human is to think that this life that we are living is all there is, or is the whole purpose of our existence. But, contrary to some weak theological theories, God did not create us and put us on the earth for the purpose of just enjoying our lives and avoiding suffering. We may have those opportunities, but most of us struggle through life suffering in a myriad of ways.

What was God's purpose in creating us and putting us on a planet with demonic spirits, with evil personified? God created us to love and enjoy Him forever. But love is a funny thing. You may 'fall' in love with someone but that almost invariably fades over time. True love, the love that God showers upon us and the love He hopes to get from us is deeper than that. It includes a decision to love, a choice. 

Our lifetime on earth is an infinitely small fragment of forever, but a vital one. For it is here that God determines those who shall go on to enjoy Him forever, and those who will not. Those who will go on to be in God's presence are those who choose to love God. They are those who choose good over evil - not what they think is good, man cannot make his own definition of good or evil. One evil that God consistently hates is man's desire to be his own god. To ignore what God says and to ignore the phenomenal sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

But choosing good over evil requires that there be evil to choose! If there was only good and no evil, man would have no choice but to 'love' God. Such love would ultimately fail as it did in Heaven where there was no evil and therefore no real choice to make. Satan's love for God faded and he decided to put himself on the throne. Many of us are still doing that today - Duterte is one of them.

So earth is a testing ground, a boot camp almost, where those committed to God are taught and tested to determine if their commitment, or faith, is real and will last through Eternity.

God shows Himself to believers in many ways. He has proved Himself to me many, many times. He will not prove Himself to unbelievers, generally speaking, because we have to come to Him in faith. If God could be seen by unbelievers, there would be no need for faith, and without faith there can be no lasting, pure love, and no hope for an Eternity with God.

Duterte has just celebrated his second year in office but critics cite his verbal war with Christians as one of the many reasons he has “become isolated domestically and internationally,” and may not see the end of his six-year term.

“Duterte’s tirade against God and the Bible reveals again that he is a psychological freak, a psychopath, an abnormal mind who should have not been elected as president of our civilized and Christian nation,”  Catholic Bishop, Arturo Bastes

Unfortunately, the Bishop doesn't seem to understand that it is God who places Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers and presidents. His purposes are not always what Christians might want or hope for. Sometimes it is to clean up messes that religious people have created or have allowed to exist.

Papua New Guinea’s Facebook Ban: Govt Declares War on Porn & Fake News

Great idea: get control of it early

Facebook is set to be banned in Papua New Guinea while the government hunts out fake profiles and porn, and assesses the social media network’s effect on the population, the country’s communications minister has said.

Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Communications and Information Technology Department, together with the National Research Institute, will research how the platform is being used by locals, and Facebook will be banned in PNG for one month.

“The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information on Facebook to be filtered and removed,” Communications Minister Sam Basil told local media outlet the Post-Courier.

Basil also floated the idea that PNG could create its own indigenous version of Facebook to rival the social network, as the country seeks to clamp down on the spread of so-called fake news and the dissemination of pornagraphic images.

Out of a population of just over 8 million, only an estimated 12 percent of those have access to the internet.

Further to conducting an audit of Facebook, the month-long outage also gives the government time to enforce the CyberCrime Act, passed in 2016, which criminalises online activities including hacking, cyber-bullying, identity theft, unlawful advertising, and the production and publication of pornography.

The world’s largest social network has come under increasing scrutiny from government in recent months over how user data is managed – and by whom – in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Britain has Sold Saudi Arabia £6bn in Weapons Since Yemen War Began

What a world we live in when the fastest growing global industries

are child pornography and weapons manufacturing and sales.

Man can't possibly survive if we continue in this direction!

And, of course, it's always children who suffer the consequences of man's evils.

FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises at a community hall where Saudi-led warplanes struck a funeral in Sanaa, Yemen, October 9, 2016 © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

British arms companies have earned £6 billion ($8bn) from selling weapons to Saudi Arabia during the ongoing war in Yemen, it has emerged. The fighting has killed more than 10,000 people, destroyed vital infrastructure, and fomented a cholera epidemic.

War Child UK claims the true revenues from dealings with the Gulf kingdom are almost double previous estimates of £3.2 billion.

The charity told the Independent that private arms manufacturers, including BAE systems and Raytheon are, “profiteering from the deaths of innocent children” by selling missiles and equipment to the Saudi-led coalition.

Rocco Blume, a conflict and humanitarian advisor at War Child, told the newspaper Britain is not only selling arms to Saudi forces but maintaining them as well.

“We all want to see productive international trade, but this is damaging. The revenue has to be seen in the context of all other costs incurred in this trade, especially to our international reputation, particularly on human rights.”

Blume says there has been a “lack of transparency” on the extent of British firms’ involvement amid a global weakening of protections for children in conflicts. He also said Britain had become “less fussy” about international trading partners as Brexit approaches.

The charity also said there is a disparity between the economic benefit to the British public versus the profit for private firms inside the arms industry, which is estimated at almost £600 million.

War Child UK found that an estimated tax revenue of 45 pence per head was “dwarfed” by pay and bonuses, as well as the amount spent by the government on aid to Yemen.

“Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia generated just £13 million in corporation tax in 2016, yet during 2017, the UK will spend £139 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen,” a spokesperson said.

“This means the Treasury is spending over four times in aid what it is getting back in tax.”

The Saudi-led coalition has waged a devastating air campaign in Yemen since 2015 to support the government in its war against Houthi rebels. The British government was forced to defend the trade amid evidence of war crimes and civilian deaths after the UN called Yemen the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster.

Evidence gathered on the ground suggests some of the bombings were carried out using British-made weapons, including Raytheon’s laser-guided Paveway IV smart bomb, which is manufactured in Fife.

BAE Systems and Raytheon were among exhibitors at an arms fair in London last week, supported by the government and senior military commanders.

Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox was asked by reporters at the arms fair how many civilian deaths it would take before the UK revoked the license to sell arms. He defended the “ethical” trade, and said it did not violate international law.

Does it violate moral law? You will find the answer to that question, but it may be too late to do anything about it when you do.

Fife, Scotland

'Untouchable' Duterte Tops Time Poll as EU Critics Told ‘Stick to Child Porn’

Time's Person of the Year?

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte © Pyay Kyaw / Reuters

The Filipino people’s “love affair” with their leader “is like a jet plane that's just taken off” and EU critics of President Rodrigo Duterte should ‘stick to child porn’.

That’s according to Philippines Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Lorraine Badoy who defended Duterte’s standing in Time magazine’s Top 100 Men and Women for 2017 survey, where he leads Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg, Justin Trudeau and Bill Gates. The final 'Time 100' list will be published on April 20.

“Plus 9 out of 10 Filipinos right now approve of him.” She added “Wrap your dim minds around that, you clowns. Nine out of ten.”

Anyone with a “teaspoon of IQ on them” would wait for Duterte to make a “huge error” before trying to topple him, she claimed.

“Then and only then would it be the time to let your cash flow to pay the EU idiots with galls as huge as Goodyear blimps to call for the president's resignation,” she said, adding in Filipino that “those in the EU, just engage in online child pornography. Since that's what you are good at.”

The warning comes as the EU condemns Duterte's plan to revive the death penalty for drug convictions. The European Parliament has called for an international investigation into "unlawful killings and other violations" in the Philippines linked to Duterte's war on drugs, while Duterte has told the EU MPs to mind their own business.

Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said that the assistant secretary’s comment was "obviously sarcastic" and she was not advocating child pornography, reported Rappler.

"Asec Badoy loves children and cares about their welfare, so to even imply that she trivializes the issue is unfair and misleading. She is an outspoken critique of social injustice, and we have no doubt as to her stand against child pornography,” Taguiwalo said in a statement, according to InterAksyon.

Badoy, a former human rights advocate and NGO worker, was appointed to implement medical assistance to drug addicts in rehab after her online activism caught the president’s eye.

The Philippines banned a number of x-rated websites at the beginning of 2017 as part of a wider child-porn crackdown.

Wild West Show Comes to the Philippines

Philippine mayor-elect offers bounties for

wounded, dead criminals

By Amy R. Connolly


Tomas Osmena, mayor-elect of Cebu City, the Philippines, is offering cash rewards to police and local residents for killing or maiming criminals. Photo by Mike Gonzalez/Wikimedia

CEBU CITY, Philippines, May 20 (UPI) -- The mayor-elect of Cebu City, Philippines, announced he is offering cash rewards to police and local residents for killing or maiming criminals in an effort to curb crime.

Tomas Osmena has rewarded an off-duty police officer who shot and injured two robbery suspects. Officer Julius Sadaya Regis was awarded $107 for injuring the suspects. Had he killed the suspects, his cash awards would have gone up.

"To get the P50,000 ($1,071), the criminal should be dead," Osmeña said. "What is important is that the robbers will be scared. I am just giving them a warning."

Osmena, who was elected to office two weeks ago, took his idea from President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who promised to kill criminals to bring peace to the country.

Osmena said criminal killings must be done legally and with a licensed gun. He said the rewards would not be taken from city coffers. When asked who would supply the funds, he said, "It's none of your business." He said he is not concerned about vigilantism.

"I will not compromise the safety of our people," he said. "I will defend them. I don't care who gets in the way."

President elect Duterte was Mayor of the city of Davao. Popular with the locals due to his successful zero tolerance policies against criminals, he earned the nickname "The Punisher". Vigilante groups tied to Duterte are thought to be responsible for the execution of drug traffickers, criminals, gang members and other lawless elements. 


Over a period of 20 years, he turned Davao City from the "murder capital of The Philippines" to what tourism organisations now describe as "the most peaceful city in southeast Asia," and what numbeo.com ranks as the world's fourth safest place. Nonetheless, Duterte has drawn criticism from various sources, particularly the press and the Philippine National Police, which contest the effectiveness of his policies.

I wonder how they can contest the effectiveness of his policies with results like that? They can complain about the methods he employs, but not the effectiveness of it. We can certainly hope and pray that he is able to clean up the child prostitution, child pornography, and sex tourism that are rampant in the Philippines. If he can do that, I have no problem with the example he has set for other mayors like Osmena, and God bless him.

New Hampshire Stands Up for Pedophile's Freedom of Child Pornography Trafficking

New Hampshire introduces US-first bill over Tor privacy software

© Joe Raedle / AFP

A new bill has been introduced by state legislators in New Hampshire to allow public libraries run privacy software, such as Tor. It is the first law of this kind in the US.

The legislation comes after last year's incident in Lebanon, New Hampshire, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) caused a Tor relay to be removed from the Kilton Public Library.

Tor allows internet traffic to be bounced over three relays, using three layers of encryption, making the original IP address undetectable. The traffic passes through a final "exit relay" before reaching its final destination, and the IP address of that last relay is signaled as the source of the traffic (rather than its actual source IP address).

As they conceal the original IP address, Tor exit relays are sometimes used for illegal activity online, drawing the attention of law enforcement agencies.

Sometimes? How about most of the time. It is used for the buying and selling of child pornography - the world's fastest growing business. It is used to sell drugs, and weapons without security checks. It is used for all kinds of evil and it is difficult to think of any legitimate use other than espionage and perhaps some media communications in hostile (read Muslim) countries.

I cannot see anything good coming out of the use of Tor in a public library. The idea is frightening and abhorrent.

The Department of Homeland Security emailed the local police about Kilton Public Library’s use of the anonymous internet browsing service last September, leading to a meeting between local law enforcement, city officials, and the library.

The Tor relay at the library was suspended for a week before being restored after a vote by the library board of trustees.

Sean Fleming, the library’s IT director, told ArsTechnica before the vote that there was “no pressure from the feds at all.”

This first of its kind bill was put forward by Republican Representative Keith Ammon in a response to that incident, and sponsored by six other lawmakers.

Although running Tor or similar programs is perfectly legal for public libraries, the legislation is being seen as a strong show of support for the right to use such privacy software.

The Library Freedom Project helped draft the bill. The Daily Dot reports that project’s founder Alison Macrina said: “I think that no matter what happens, whether this passes or not, it's a pretty important step in recognizing these things are really important, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies are threatening our right to use them,” she said.

Although Tor is largely funded by the US government, the National Security Agency (NSA) has made repeated attempts to develop attacks against people using Tor, according to the Guardian.

The discussion on digital security versus national security reached a pivotal point this week when Apple CEO, Tim Cook revealed the company does not intend to comply with an FBI request to create a “backdoor” to the iPhone so investigators can access data on the phone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.