News

SpyBuster Helps Identify iOS Apps With Servers In Russia And Belarus

When you launch SpyBuster, it automatically begins examining installed apps, looking for connections with Russia or Belarus.

Published

4 years ago

August 2, 2022

David Morelo

spybuster helps identify ios apps with servers in russia and belarus

Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the number of cyber attacks launched against both countries surged. Because targeted attacks against specific government entities are what usually makes the headlines, it’s easy to overlook the role we all play in today’s cyber warfare.

As we use our beloved iPhones to help us navigate our daily lives, we rely on a large number of apps, many of which send potentially sensitive information to remote servers. That’s usually not a problem except when the servers that the app is communicating with are located in Russia or Belarus, and the iOS version of SpyBuster by MacPaw is here to help you discover all apps on your device that do just that.

“In 2016, Russia adopted legislation that requires telecom providers to store private user data, including the content of voice calls, images, and text messages, for 6 months. It also orders them to retain metadata like sender and recipient information, sending time, and location, for 3 years,” explains Eugene Kalnyk, PR Specialist at MacPaw. “The so-called Yarovaya Law allows FSB and other Russian law enforcement agencies nearly unlimited access to any user data on Russian servers without a court order.”

SpyBuster debuted in March 2022 as a macOS privacy tool. It took MacPaw only three months to release it as a Chrome extension. With the recent release of the iOS version, users can finally protect their privacy everywhere — from desktop computers and laptops to the web to mobile devices.

Just like CleanMyMac X and other software applications developed by MacPaw, SpyBuster is designed to be user-friendly, and it shows through and through.

Also Read: DDoS Attacks Are A Growing Threat In Gaming

When you launch SpyBuster, it automatically begins examining installed apps, looking for connections with Russia or Belarus. It then presents a list of suspicious apps, allowing you to see at a glance why the apps should be avoided. Less experienced users may also appreciate the inclusion of detailed uninstall instructions.

spybuster by macpaw screenshots

The settings section of the SpyBuster app lets you adjust your detection accuracy setting, which influences how many privacy offenses an app has to commit before being flagged as suspicious.

To learn more about SpyBuster, visit its official website, where you can find download links for iOS, macOS, and Chrome.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.