Google and Amnesty International teamed up to make it harder for spyware vendors to hide

Intrusion Logging marks the first feature from a major device vendor to aid with forensic detection of sophisticated threats, Amnesty International said.

Google launched a feature for Android phones Tuesday for dedicated forensic logs about intrusions from sophisticated attacks like those by spyware vendors, in what design partners at Amnesty International hailed as an important first.

The tech giant has been ramping up the new feature, Intrusion Logging, since last year, and has now begun rolling it out.

“The new intrusion logging feature promises to be a major aid to digital forensics researchers undertaking investigations into sophisticated attacks on Android devices,” Amnesty International said in a Tuesday technical briefing. “This is the first time a major device vendor has released a feature specifically to enhance the ability to forensically detect and respond to advanced digital threats.”

To date, independent investigators have relied on records and often short-lived log files that weren’t meant for forensic use, and Amnesty said surveillance groups have grown increasingly aware of those forensic efforts. Intrusion Logging, a feature of Android Advanced Protection Mode, is designed specifically to keep track of possible intrusions for forensic purposes. It keeps records of security incidents like device unlocking, physical access and spyware installation and removal.

Google’s annual security and privacy update for Android phones mentions the feature and its development with Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and others. It also touts new protections against banking scam calls, other features for detecting suspicious activity on Android phones, additional privacy safeguards and more.

The firm has been working on the feature since announcing it last year.

“Intrusion Logging enables persistent and privacy-preserving forensics logging to allow for investigation of devices in the event of a suspected compromise,” wrote Eugene Liderman, director of Android security and privacy.

Intrusion Logging joins an expanding slate of features from tech companies to fight sophisticated attacks like those from commercial spyware, among them Apple’s Lockdown Mode and Memory Integrity Enforcement and WhatsApp’s Strict Account Settings.

Intrusion Logging “promises to help shift the balance to the advantage of defenders, providing civil society investigators with the key evidence needed to detect and expose some of the most advanced attacks facing journalists and activists,” said Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, head of the Amnesty International Security Lab, “With Intrusion Logging Google is the first major vendor to proactively address to challenge of detecting advanced attacks on device. By making more consensual forensic data available for researchers, we can make life more difficult for attackers and help civil society seek accountability when their devices are unlawfully targeted by spyware and mobile data extraction tools.”

The feature has some limitations, though, Amnesty said in its technical briefing. It requires Android 16 and is only available for now on Pixel devices; the device has to be linked to a Google account, and the logs may include sensitive information, like browser navigation history, so secure sharing of the logs is important.

The logs may also be deletable by attackers, Ó Cearbhaill told CyberScoop, but he said he understands there are plans to strengthen protections against that in future versions. And lots of attacks would be detectable in the logs where attackers wouldn’t necessarily have the root access needed to try to delete logs, he said.

To enable Intrusion Logging, users need to be using Android Advanced Protection Mode, and can find the feature at Settings > Security & privacy > Advanced Protection > Intrusion Logging. If users suspect some kind of security incident, they’ll need to export and share the logs with a forensic analyst.

Amnesty International exposes Serbian police’s use of spyware on journalists, activists

The comprehensive report showed how Serbian law enforcement combined Cellebrite’s tech with a novel Android-focused spyware program.

Government

• FBI officials say AI is bolstering adversaries, emphasizing need to focus on cyber basics, patching

• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

Technology

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

• The Collective Cyber Defense letter wrote your next vendor questionnaire

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure

• Election official says Tina Peters would be consultant, won’t have access to election systems