{"id":1655,"date":"2024-06-12T11:05:55","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T10:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediadefence.org\/ereader\/publications\/online-violence-against-journalists\/module-2-digital-attacks-and-online-gbv\/surveillance-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-06-17T08:45:30","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T07:45:30","slug":"phishing","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.mediadefence.org\/ereader\/publications\/online-violence-against-journalists\/module-2-digital-attacks-and-online-gbv\/phishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Phishing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Phishing<\/strong>: Phishing is defined as a \u201ccybercrime in which a target or targets are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords.\u201d[footnote]Phishing.org, \u2018What Is Phishing?\u2019 (accessible at https:\/\/www.phishing.org\/what-is-phishing#:~:text=Phishing is a cybercrime in which a target,information, banking and credit card details, and passwords).[\/footnote] Once this information has been provided, the hacker can gain access to, and sell, the individual&#8217;s personal accounts and claim the hacked individual\u2019s identity (identity theft).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Campaigns<\/strong>: Phishing is a prevalent form of targeted surveillance and digital security attacks which can impact journalists. Phishing campaigns can also be used to enable hackers to install surveillance technology to access a journalist\u2019s personal information, data, and sources often without the journalist\u2019s knowledge, to blackmail them through the misuse of personal information, and to provoke self-censorship.[footnote]UNESCO, \u2018Building Digital Safety for Journalism &#8211; A Survey of Selected Issues\u2019, 2015 (accessible at https:\/\/unesdoc.unesco.org\/ark:\/48223\/pf0000232358).[\/footnote]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">International law and standards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phishing attempts, whether successful or otherwise, violate journalists\u2019 right to <strong>privacy<\/strong>, <strong>data protection<\/strong>, and <strong>freedom of expression<\/strong>, with these abuses being characterised by continuity, due to the ability of perpetrators to utilise different online and offline platforms to constantly re-victimise victims, including through identity theft attacks.[footnote]Id<em>.<\/em>[\/footnote]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, the UNSR on FreeEx has noted that targeted digital surveillance technologies and methods targeting journalists, including phishing, are \u201c<strong>contrary to international human rights law<\/strong>, according to which both reporter and source enjoy rights that may be limited only in accordance with the strict requirements of Article 19(3) of the ICCPR.\u201d[footnote]UNHRC, \u2018Reinforcing media freedom and the safety of journalists in the digital age: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan\u2019, 20 April 2022 (accessible at https:\/\/documents-dds-ny.un.org\/doc\/UNDOC\/GEN\/G22\/323\/44\/PDF\/G2232344.pdf?OpenElement).[\/footnote]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">National laws<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Civil and criminal liability under national laws regulating cybercrimes or computer misuse could be used to address phishing attacks against journalists.[footnote]Thomson Reuters above n 117[\/footnote] As noted, 39 out of the 54 listed African countries have enacted cybersecurity or cybercrime laws.[footnote]UNCTAD, \u2018Cybercrime Legislation Worldwide\u2019 (accessible at https:\/\/unctad.org\/page\/cybercrime-legislation-worldwide).[\/footnote]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group highlight\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Phishing in Nigeria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In <strong>Nigeria<\/strong>, it is commendable that Section 32 of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cert.gov.ng\/ngcert\/resources\/CyberCrime__Prohibition_Prevention_etc__Act__2015.pdf\">Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act of 2015<\/a> explicitly criminalises phishing[footnote]Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act of 2015 (accessible at https:\/\/www.cert.gov.ng\/ngcert\/resources\/CyberCrime__Prohibition_Prevention_etc__Act__2015.pdf).[\/footnote] while Section 22 explicitly addresses the scenario in which a phishing campaign against a journalist results in either identity theft or impersonation.[footnote]Id.[\/footnote]<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For SSA countries without or with inadequate cybercrime laws, alternative legal routes that may be pursued could relate to <strong>data protection<\/strong> and the compromising of confidentiality and integrity of data, and\/or the disclosure of personal information without the data subjects\u2019 prior and informed consent, amounting to a violation of a journalist\u2019s right to informational privacy.[footnote]Media Defence, \u2018Module 4: Data Privacy and Data Protection,\u2019 December 2020 (accessible at https:\/\/www.mediadefence.org\/ereader\/publications\/introductory-modules-on-digital-rights-and-freedom-of-expression-online\/module-4-data-privacy-and-data-protection\/).[\/footnote]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other <strong>civil provisions<\/strong>, such as trespass to chattel or a breach of contract if the attack violates a website owner\u2019s or internet service provider&#8217;s terms of use, might also be relevant.[footnote]Thomson Reuters above n 117.[\/footnote] Lastly, <strong>criminal offences<\/strong> under the Penal or Criminal Code might be relevant where, for example, a perpetrator, in carrying out a phishing attack, blackmails a journalist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview International law and standards Phishing attempts, whether successful or otherwise, violate journalists\u2019 right to privacy, data protection, and freedom of expression, with these abuses being characterised by continuity, due to the ability of perpetrators to utilise different online and offline platforms to constantly re-victimise victims, including through identity theft attacks.[footnote]Id.[\/footnote] As such, the UNSR [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":1645,"menu_order":358,"template":"page-templates\/chapter.php","publication-category":[],"class_list":["post-1655","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Phishing | eReader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This module provides a high-level overview of online violence against journalists, with a focus on the gendered impact on women journalists.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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