Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 15 submissions in the queue.

Saudi Crown Prince's WhatsApp Account Reportedly Used to Hack Jeff Bezos

posted by martyb on Wednesday January 22 2020, @10:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the fighting-fortunes dept.

takyon writes:

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos's phone 'hacked by Saudi crown prince'

Exclusive: investigation suggests Washington Post owner was targeted five months before murder of Jamal Khashoggi

The Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos had his mobile phone "hacked" in 2018 after receiving a WhatsApp message that had apparently been sent from the personal account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, sources have told the Guardian.

The encrypted message from the number used by Mohammed bin Salman is believed to have included a malicious file that infiltrated the phone of the world's richest man, according to the results of a digital forensic analysis.

This analysis found it "highly probable" that the intrusion into the phone was triggered by an infected video file sent from the account of the Saudi heir to Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post.

The two men had been having a seemingly friendly WhatsApp exchange when, on 1 May of that year, the unsolicited file was sent, according to sources who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity.

Large amounts of data were exfiltrated from Bezos's phone within hours, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Guardian has no knowledge of what was taken from the phone or how it was used.

The extraordinary revelation that the future king of Saudi Arabia may have had a personal involvement in the targeting of the American founder of Amazon will send shockwaves from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

Previously: Saudi Arabia's Government Allegedly Hacked Into Jeff Bezos's Phone

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Saudi Crown Prince's WhatsApp Account Reportedly Used to Hack Jeff Bezos | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 29 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Wednesday January 22 2020, @11:11PM (1 child)

    by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 22 2020, @11:11PM (#947075) Journal

    The UN rapporteurs added: “Surveillance through digital means must be subjected to the most rigorous control, including by judicial authorities and national and international export control regimes, to protect against the ease of its abuse. It underscores the pressing need for a moratorium on the global sale and transfer of private surveillance technology.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/22/jeff-bezos-un-calls-for-investigation-into-alleged-saudi-hack [theguardian.com]

    I get a call for an investigation, but a moratorium on the global sale and transfer of private surveillance technology? What, they mean like Facebook? Or the surreptitious use of surveillance technology and / or technology specifically targeted to that audience? Which I already assume is illegal in most places.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Interesting=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   3  

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday January 22 2020, @11:20PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday January 22 2020, @11:20PM (#947085) Journal

    They are probably referring to something like this (see bolded):

    Israeli Firm NSO Linked to WhatsApp Hack, Faces Lawsuit Backed by Amnesty International [soylentnews.org]

    The Israeli firm linked to this week's WhatsApp hack is facing a lawsuit backed by Amnesty International, which says it fears its staff may be under surveillance from spyware installed via the messaging service.

    The human rights group's concerns are detailed in a lawsuit filed in Israel by about 50 members and supporters of Amnesty International Israel and others from the human rights community. It has called on the country's ministry of defence to ban the export of NSO's Pegasus software, which can covertly take control of a mobile phone, copy its data and turn on the microphone for surveillance.

    An affidavit from Amnesty is at the heart of the case, and concludes that "staff of Amnesty International have an ongoing and well-founded fear they may continue to be targeted and ultimately surveilled" after a hacking attempt last year.

    NSO Group, founded in 2010, supplies industry-leading surveillance software to governments that it says is for tackling terrorism and serious crime, and has been licensed to dozens of countries including Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Bahrain and the UAE.

    But there have been a string of complaints in the past few months, documented largely by the Toronto-based Citizen Lab, that the technology has been used to target human rights groups, activists and journalists by several countries – and that there has been no attempt to rein it in.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]