Israeli spyware on smartphones

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Jim Mathias
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Israeli spyware on smartphones

Post by Jim Mathias » Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:57 am

https://southfront.org/israeli-software ... activists/
ISRAELI SOFTWARE COMPANY’S SPYWARE USED TO TARGET HUNDREDS OF JOURNALISTS, ACTIVISTS

19.07.2021

An Israeli company’s spyware was used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, government officials and human rights activists around the world, according to an investigation by 17 media organizations, published on July 18th.

One of the organizations, The Washington Post, said the Pegasus spyware licensed by Israel-based NSO Group also was used to target phones belonging to two women close to Jamal Khashoggi, a Post columnist murdered at a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.

One of them was his fiancee, and she and the other woman were targeted both before and after his death.

The Guardian, another of the media outlets, said the investigation suggested “widespread and continuing abuse” of NSO’s hacking software, described as malware that infects smartphones to enable the extraction of messages, photos and emails; record calls; and secretly activate microphones.

The investigation highlights widespread and continuing abuse of NSO’s hacking spyware called ‘Pegasus’ which the company confirms is only intended for use against terrorist groups, drug and human traffickers, and criminals.

Pegasus is a very advanced malware that infects iOS and Android devices to allow operators of the spyware to copy messages, photos, calls and other data, including secretly activate microphones and cameras.

Based on the investigation, the leak contains a list of 50,000 phone numbers that have been identified as those of people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016.

The list includes many close family members of one country’s ruler, suggesting he might have instructed the country’s intelligence agencies to explore the possibility of tracking and spying on their own relatives.

The company, NSO Group, issued a statement on its website denying the reporting by the 17 media partners led by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories.

“The report by Forbidden Stories is full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories that raise serious doubts about the reliability and interests of the sources. It seems like the ‘unidentified sources’ have supplied information that has no factual basis and are far from reality,” the company said in the statement.

“After checking their claims, we firmly deny the false allegations made in their report,” the statement said. NSO said its technology was not associated in any way with Khashoggi’s murder.

In a statement, rights group Amnesty International condemning “the wholesale lack of regulation” of surveillance software.

“Until this company (NSO) and the industry as a whole can show it is capable of respecting human rights, there must be an immediate moratorium on the export, sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology,” the rights group said in a statement.

The targeted phone numbers were on a list provided by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International to the 17 media organizations. It was not clear how the groups obtained the list.

The numbers on the list were not attributed, but reporters identified more than 1,000 people spanning more than 50 countries.

They included several Arab royal family members, at least 65 business executives, 85 human rights activists, 189 journalists and more than 600 politicians and government officials – including several heads of state and prime ministers.

“We are deeply troubled to learn that two AP journalists, along with journalists from many news organizations, are among those who may have been targeted by Pegasus spyware,” said Director of AP Media Relations Lauren Easton.

“We have taken steps to ensure the security of our journalists’ devices and are investigating,” she added.

Reuters’ spokesman Dave Moran said, “Journalists must be allowed to report the news in the public interest without fear of harassment or harm, wherever they are. We are aware of the report and are looking into the matter.”

The map below provides insight into how many “customers” NSO Group had that were feeding numbers.
Visit the link cited above for the map.
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BBrookshire

Re: Israeli spyware on smartphones

Post by BBrookshire » Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:58 pm

I have a feeling something like this is in the development stage world wide already.

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Jim Mathias
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Re: Israeli spyware on smartphones

Post by Jim Mathias » Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:24 pm

BBrookshire wrote:
Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:58 pm
I have a feeling something like this is in the development stage world wide already.
Jews are the nosiest bastidges on the planet, it wouldn't surprise me that this is the tip of the iceberg of their electronic-based snooping abilities. Our friends ought to know this sort of thing has been and still is going on. Keep your conversations clean!
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Re: Israeli spyware on smartphones

Post by Jim Mathias » Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:52 am

https://sputniknews.com/world/202107191 ... re-report/
Biden Adviser's Consulting Firm Got Paid by Israeli NSO Group Which Sold Pegasus Spyware:
08:47 GMT 19.07.2021
(updated 08:52 GMT 19.07.2021)
by Aleksandra Serebriakova

An international investigation by over a dozen news outlets including the Guardian and the Washington Post concluded on Sunday that the Israeli cyber firm NSO Group sold “authoritarian governments” around the world hacking software to spy on journalists, politicians and various activists.

The Israeli firm NSO Group, which is alleged to be behind the Pegasus spyware that was used by governments across the world to target their opponents and media figures, once hired the firm of Joe Biden’s senior adviser Anita Dunn, it was claimed.

Biden Adviser’s Company
Anita Dunn is a partner and a founding member of SKDKnickerbocker political consulting firm, according to the company’s website. The webpage states that the adviser, who also previously worked as ex-President Barack Obama's chief strategist, is currently on leave from SKDK but is expected to return to the company soon.

NSO Group, which is now in the midst of hacking scandal, hired SKDKnickerbocker in spring 2019 to help boost its public image and relations, according to earlier reports by Fast Company and The Intercept.

How Is It Linked to Murdered Journalist Khashoggi?
The PR efforts were needed following a string of lawsuits against the company alleging that NSO-developed malware was used to spy on journalists and political dissidents across the globe. One of the alleged targets was Saudi-born Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Khashoggi’s death was linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by US intelligence, an accusation which has been denied by Riyadh.

In 2018, Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, who was close to Khashoggi, filed a lawsuit against the NSO, claiming that the firm helped to spy on Khashoggi through his phone before the journalist’s assassination. The lawsuit also put pressure on Israel at that time for licensing the company’s work with foreign governments where it sold its Pegasus spyware. As of late 2020, an Israel judge has refused to dismiss the case, while Abdulaziz has continued to seek 600,000 shekels in damages from the company.

The work done by Anita Dunn firm for NSO Group and its attempts to “clear up” the company’s image were scrutinised at that time. They were once again brought to light on Sunday amid accusations of a massive spy campaign being launched with NSO equipment against thousands of activists worldwide.

In a series of tweets, New York Times journalist Kenneth P. Vogel argued that “some of ANITA DUNN's private sector work does not exactly align with progressive sensibilities”. He said that the adviser’s firm was getting paid by NSO Group for consultation “until late 2019”, while the spyware scandal was still on the roll.

​In early July, Anita Dunn told Politico that she was planning to leave the White House post “very shortly”, as she was apparently not willing to stay in her temporary role for long.

NSO Group in Hot Water Again
A joint investigation by 17 media organisations, including the Guardian, Le Monde and the Washington Post revealed on Sunday that multiple human rights activists, politicians, lawyers and journalists have fallen victim to hacking campaigns launched by governments that used NSO Group’s Pegasus software to spy on their opponents.

The investigation, titled the ‘Pegasus Project’, was operated by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories - a group that gets donations from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.
The Guardian report detailing the summary of the project’s findings revealed that the media consortium got access to a leaked list containing some 50,000 phone numbers of potential victims of the spying campaign. Pegasus software, which is intended for use against terrorists and other criminals, was allegedly put on the targets’ phones to track their messages, emails and record calls.

The consortium concluded that at least 10 governments that were NSO clients were entering numbers into the system to get them tracked, including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India, and the United Arab Emirates. The most numbers on the analysed list, 15,000, are said to have come from Mexico.

Governments and NSO React to Accusations
It can’t be said yet whether all of the numbers that appeared on the list were hacked (successfully or unsuccessfully) with the use of Pegasus software, but the Guardian notes that an analysis of a small number of listed phone numbers showed that the majority of them had traces of the Pegasus spyware. The project will be revealing the identities of those people mentioned in the list, including business executives, religious figures and government officials, in the coming days but has already spilled the beans to New York Times, CNN, and Financial Times journalists who could have been targeted by the spying campaign.

Officials in Hungary, India, Rwanda and Morocco have already denied using Pegasus for hacking activities against people mentioned in the list.
NSO Group has long maintained that it “does not operate the systems that it sells to vetted government customers”.

Commenting on the news, the company decried “false claims” about the activities of its clients, calling the 50,000 figure “exaggerated” and saying that the leaked list could not be the one showing numbers “targeted by governments using Pegasus”.
Visit the article at the link above to view corroborating photos and "tweets."
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BBrookshire

Re: Israeli spyware on smartphones

Post by BBrookshire » Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:00 pm

That's as scary as the Maxwell / Senator Tower software deal. Yeesh. Spying and Blackmail, very effective tools.

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Jim Mathias
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Re: Israeli spyware on smartphones

Post by Jim Mathias » Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:41 pm

BBrookshire wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:00 pm
That's as scary as the Maxwell / Senator Tower software deal. Yeesh. Spying and Blackmail, very effective tools.
I'm willing to bet that it's the "stick" part of the "carrot and stick" approach the Jews use to control our government.
It was very interesting reading when the whole Epstein/Maxwell thing blew up a few years ago resulting in Epstein's death. The dirt this Jew had on the likes of Bill Clinton and so many others must be very filthy stuff to keep these crooks in line. But the technology has to exist to get that dirt and here we see one of their (Mossad's, that is. NSO Group can't just be a simple, private company that's about making a shekel only!) tools deployed.
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Will Williams
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Re: Israeli spyware on smartphones

Post by Will Williams » Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:33 pm

I've never had a cell phone and am accessible and do all right with landlines and email. Do not try to text me.

Seeing the dependency of our people in this age of the "digital revolution" on their ubiquitous, so-called "smartphones," mostly for for convenience, especially among youngsters, is concerning -- and not just because Israeii firms have contracts with dozens of telephone companies that give Jews access to way too much personal information about users.

P.C. Robeerts, the conservative commentator, now in his 80s, is too tame for my tastes, but I can relate to his observations here about how the once simple and useful communication tool has become a bane since Big Tech, Jewry, and law enforcement control the industry. One doesn't think about his "electronic footprint" until faced with it in the defendant's box.


The Telephone

Paul Craig Roberts

I remember when the telephone was a useful and appreciated device. The digital revolution, one of humanity’s most unfortunate developments, has turned the telephone into a nuisance and a threat.

The telephone is such a nuisance that most people no longer answer when it rings or even bother to set up the feature to record phone messages. The telephone is such a nuisance that many people do not even use it for calls. Instead, they text, and they only answer texts.

Ninety-five percent of the calls I get are scams, tele-marketing and robo-marketing calls. The telephone is a constant disruption. I don’t answer and rely on the answering machine.

No one I call answers either. Not even businesses. Recently I telephoned the diagnostic center, where tests are done as part of my annual checkup, to confirm the appointment. A long recording in two languages explained everything I had no need to know, but it was impossible to communicate with any live person at the diagnostic center. I could go online, get an apt, create a portal and establish a communication connection. In other words, what the telephone formerly dealt with in 30 seconds now took an hour or two just to set up a method of asking the question. The robot on the other end didn’t say how long I would wait for a reply.

Everyone must have noticed by now that whether you call your bank, credit card company or utility company, reaching a live person is the most difficult and most frustrating task of your day. Everyone has noticed that the recorded message tells you that “we are experiencing an unusual call volume at this time. Your wait time is one hour and 45 minutes. Stay on the line or leave a callback number and we will call you in approximately one hour 45 minutes.”

I can remember when if you called bank, utility, or credit card company, the call was answered by the third ring and the person you reached could resolve whatever problem or question you had.

The digital revolution made it possible for companies to impose costs of doing business on their customers. It is your time that is used up listening to recorded messages of no value to you and awaiting a callback. Often the callback person isn’t trained to handle your question, and you go through the process again.

The digital revolution has turned the telephone into a device that governments and corporations use to spy on you. Privacy is a thing of the past. It is unknown today, and the word itself will probably disappear from the vocabulary. Telephones today are used as computers to constantly surf the Internet. Your visits are recorded and your revealed interests are sold to marketers and, if suspicious, authorities are alerted. Whatever people are doing, walking on the beach, sitting in a bar, eating in a restaurant, driving a car, working on a job, or attending a meeting, the telephone is ubiquitous as the thumb scrolls the page. But its original use–to communicate with another human–is passé.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/0 ... telephone/
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