Information Warfare: Big Brother Has The Neatest Toys

Archives

September 8, 2012: As the Libyan rebels took control of government over the last year (since they overthrew the decades old Kaddafi dictatorship), they have found that the previous government has some pretty neat tools for monitoring how Libyans used the Internet. Kaddafi's intelligence agencies bought special Internet monitoring software from a French firm and were able to search all Internet traffic in the country, especially stuff going into and out of Libya.

At the time of the revolution Libya had only about 100,000 Internet users and the government monitoring system was able to filter all traffic (that was readable) for certain words or phrases. If something was not in plaintext, the French monitoring software could identify what kind of data it was (encrypted, compressed, music or video, or whatever). The system also kept a record of which users were on the Internet, when, and with what type of data.

The monitoring effort was no secret and rebels using the Internet were warned to be careful what they said and how they said it. But the monitoring effort did provide a real-time report on what most upscale Libyans were talking about and what their attitudes were. Occasionally there would be some useful military information from a sloppy rebel. It's not known for sure if the new government is still using the Bull system or one from several other vendors who sell such stuff to governments and large corporations. Users tend to be quiet about what they are doing in this department. Depending on the secrecy and counter-intelligence laws in a country, it is usually not illegal to use this kind of Internet monitoring software. Many, if not most, nations in the Middle East use an Internet monitoring system similar to the one Kaddafi had.

 

 


Article Archive

Information Warfare: Current 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 


X

ad
0
20

Help Keep Us Soaring

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling. We need your help in reversing that trend. We would like to add 20 new subscribers this month.

Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage. A contribution is not a donation that you can deduct at tax time, but a form of crowdfunding. We store none of your information when you contribute..
Subscribe   Contribute   Close