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Should Technology Companies Treat Western Government Sponsored Hackers Differently?

 Article:  P. H. O'Neill, “Google's unusual move to shut down an active counterterrorism operation being conducted by a Western democracy,” MIT Technology Review, 26-Mar-2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/26/1021318/google-security-shut-down-counter-terrorist-us-ally/. [Accessed: 29-Mar-2021].

This article details the fallout and debates the ethics of Google's Project Zero Team and Threat Analysis Group circumventing and announcing the circumvention of a hacking ring operated by an ally of the United States. 

According to the article, these two teams already devote a lot of resources to the circumvention of hackings by state sponsors actors associated with North Korea, Russia, and China, but that there is some concern within the company about whether they should interfere with the efforts of governments friendly to the USA. Some people in the industry believe that it's important to publicize information about the exploits so others can learn how to avoid similar mistakes in the future.  Others in the industry believe that since Western governments hacking groups are operating under oversight of democratically elected governments, they should be exempt from disclosure. They also argue that breaking up counterterrorism operations also puts lives at risk.

The exploits the hacking ring was using target weaknesses in Android, iOS, and Windows that allowed websites to install malware on users' devices.  A variety of Google products were compromised incluiding Chrome as well as Apple's Safari.

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