Spy games
If you're going to mount an operation against a group of leading cybersecurity researchers, you might think it would be done with care. Not so in the case of some hapless operatives who targeted members of Canadian-based Citizen Lab. As the AP reports, men pretending to be "socially conscious investors" lured researchers to meetings where they sought details of their work and personal lives. In one meeting in a restaurant, an operative recorded the meeting with a camera (poorly) hidden in a pen, not realising his target was recording him. When the operative was confronted by AP reporters, he fled only to have to return when he realised he hadn't paid the bill. It's not known who was behind the operation, though the New York Times identified that operative as a retired Israeli security official. Citizen Lab has played a leading role in revealing the extent of state-backed hacking activities and the operation against it is the latest in a series of similar actions against critics of governments and corporations.