(Engadget) Ethiopia's government is among the most oppressive political regimes on the African continent, only trailing Eritrea in its population of incarcerated journalists. And with the country's recent implementation of off-the-shelf spyware from Italian security firm Hacking Team, Ethiopia's leaders can--and have been--expanding their despotic reach far overseas.
Per a report from Citizen Lab, published February 12th, numerous journalists working for the Ethiopian Satellite Television Service (ESAT), a network of independent Ethiopian expat journalists operating out of Alexandria, Virginia were targeted by a member of Ethiopia's internal information security apparatus: the Information Network Security Agency (INSA). Harassment from government officials is a regular occurrence for dissenting journalists in Ethiopia but this latest attack marks the second time that journalists outside of the East African nation have been targeted by the INSA.
