Information is Power

Cybersecurity researchers today revealed the existence of a new and previously undetected critical vulnerability in SIM cards that could allow remote attackers to compromise targeted mobile phones and spy on victims just by sending an SMS. Dubbed "SimJacker," the vulnerability resides in a particular piece of software, called the S@T Browser (a dynamic SIM toolkit), embedded on most SIM cards that is widely being used by mobile operators in at least 30 countries and can be exploited regardless of which handsets victims are using. What's worrisome? A specific private company that works with governments is actively exploiting the SimJacker vulnerability from at least the last two years to conduct targeted surveillance on mobile phone users across several countries. S@T Browser, short for SIMalliance Toolbox Browser, is an application that comes installed on a variety of SIM cards, including eSIM, as part of SIM Tool Kit (STK) and has been designed to let mobile carriers pro...

The US government through its treasury department, has imposed sanctions on former Police chief General Edward Kale Kayihura for reportedly engaging in corruption and human rights abuses. In a statement released today 13th September 2019, the US government claims that Kayihura directly supervised the torture of prisoners at the Nalufenya Police Special investigations facility in Jinja. "As the IGP for the UPF, Kayihura led individuals from the UPF's Flying Squad Unit, which has engaged in the inhumane treatment of detainees at the Nalufenya Special Investigations Center (NSIC). Flying Squad Unit members reportedly used sticks and rifle butts to abuse NSIC detainees, and officers at NSIC are accused of having beaten one of the detainees with blunt instruments to the point that he lost consciousness. Detainees also reported that after being subjected to the abuse they were offered significant sums of money if they confessed to their involvement in a crime. " Mr Sigal Mandel...

In yet another letter to Ugandans on the current affairs, President Yoweri Museveni has said that the time has come to apply the concept of an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth as a way of combating the rising criminality in the country. Museveni in his missive says, it is “annoying” that the criminals are operating with impunity due to a colloborating police force and civilian courts. His own nephew, Joshua Rushegyera became a victim of the rising criminality when he got gunned down alongside Merina Tumukunde last week along the Entebbe expressway by what Museveni calls “stupid” “pigs”. Below is Museveni’s latest letter Condolences on the killing of the young Bazukulu Nagirinya and Kitayimbwa by the criminals as the two were at the gate of the former’s residence at 23:49 hours on the night of August 28th, 2019. Also condolences on the murder of Joshua Rushegyera and Tumukunde Merina on the night of 5th of September, 2019 between 22:28 and 23 hours on the Entebbe Expressway. Joshua Rus...

The Kololo-based International Crimes Division of High Court was Wednesday a scene of tension and drama when armed security operatives re-arrested four of the eight people who are suspected of killing the former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi. The four were picked up together with their lawyer, Mr James Mubiru, shortly after being discharged by the Registrar of the International Crimes Division of High Court, Ms Esther Nasambu, following their bail release by Justice Lydia Mugambe. They are Yusuf Nyanzi, Jibril Kalyango, Joshua Kyambadde and Yusuf Mugerwa. Uniformed and plain-clothed security officers closed the main gate of the court premises to block the suspects from leaving. However, the operatives opened the gate when a vehicle attached to the Office of the Director of Prosecution, approached the gate. As the car exited, the suspects who were driving in two vehicles; belonging to Mr Mubiru and another belonging to Mr Godfrey Turyamusiima, a lawyer, tried ...

Following the current spate of kidnaps and murders around the country, the rich residents of Muyenga, a suburb of Kampala city have resolved to get guns to protect themselves from such afflictions. The suggestion which was proposed by the area Chairperson LC1 Yasin Omar was seconded by all residents during a village meeting held on Saturday. Those killing Ugandans will not survive our wrath, says UPDF general. The residents said they no longer feel secure and that it is high time they prepared themselves to faceoff with any potential killers. We have been having a lot of assault cases on our people and they no longer feel secure so for the good of their personal security we have resolved that all capable residents get guns. We are ready to make recommendations,” said Mr Omar. Having a private gun in Uganda is legal, those who feel insecure they can get them. And for ladies they can get paper sprays which they can use of perpetrators.” The move comes hot on the heels of the murder by sh...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new computer virus associated with the Stealth Falcon state-sponsored cyber espionage group that abuses a built-in component of the Microsoft Windows operating system to stealthily exfiltrate stolen data to attacker-controlled server. Active since 2012, Stealth Falcon is a sophisticated hacking group known for targeting journalists, activists, and dissidents with spyware in the Middle East, primarily in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Dubbed Win32/StealthFalcon, named after the hacking group, the malware communicates and sends collected data to its remote command-and-control (C&C) servers using Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS). BITS is a communication protocol in Windows that takes unused network bandwidth to facilitate asynchronous, prioritized, and throttled transfer of files between machines in the foreground or background, without impacting the network experience. BITS is commonly used by software updaters, inclu...

The US Embassy in Uganda has denied supporting presidential ambitions for Kyadondo East Member of Parliament cum singer, Robert Kyagulanyi also known as Bobi Wine. Responding to a question from journalists in regards reports over the weekend that US Senators Coon Christopher and Chris Van Hollen met Bobi Wine and pledged total support to his presidential ambitions, Malac said they meet everyone in every country they have missions. “In every country around the world we meet with civil society, opposition politicians, members of the ruling party and everyone to understand what is going on in the country and it is no different here in Uganda,”Malac told journalists on Tuesday during the function to release the 2018 report on the work done by the US government in Uganda. “We don’t support any candidates or political parties as the US government.” It was reported that on August 12, 2019, met Malac’s home in Kololo and promised support to his presidential bid and also diplomatic support for ...