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posted by janrinok on Tuesday July 20 2021, @12:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the NSO:-No-Such-Operation dept.

Israeli Spyware Maker Is in Spotlight Amid Reports of Wide Abuses

Data leaked to a consortium of news organizations suggests that several countries use Pegasus, a powerful cyberespionage tool, to spy on rights activists, dissidents and journalists.

A major Israeli cyber-surveillance company, NSO Group, came under heightened scrutiny Sunday after an international alliance of news outlets reported that governments used its software to target journalists, dissidents and opposition politicians.

The Israeli government also faced renewed international pressure for allowing the company to do business with authoritarian regimes that use the spyware for purposes that go far afield of the company's stated aim: targeting terrorists and criminals.

[...] The allegations may escalate concerns that the Israeli government has abetted government abuses by granting NSO an export license to sell software to countries that use it to suppress dissent.

The accounts, published by The Washington Post and an alliance of 16 other international news outlets, follow recent reporting by The [New York] Times that Israel permitted NSO to do business with Saudi Arabia, and encouraged it to keep doing so even after the Saudi government was implicated in the 2018 assassination of a Saudi journalist and dissident, Jamal Khashoggi.

Pegasus: The new global weapon for silencing journalists

Also at Business Insider, The Hill, The Verge, and Al Jazeera.

Related: Israeli Firm NSO Linked to WhatsApp Hack, Faces Lawsuit Backed by Amnesty International
Saudi Crown Prince's WhatsApp Account Reportedly Used to Hack Jeff Bezos
The Great iPwn -- Journalists Hacked with Suspected NSO Group iMessage 'Zero-Click' Exploit


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday July 20 2021, @01:42AM (3 children)

    by looorg (578) on Tuesday July 20 2021, @01:42AM (#1158129)

    to spy on rights activists, dissidents and journalists ... to target journalists, dissidents and opposition politicians ... authoritarian regimes ... targeting terrorists and criminals.

    One can only assume that in the eyes of an authoritarian regime said people/groups are criminals. Problem, if there even was one, solved as far as they and NOS are concerned.

    Will be interesting to see if they can whip up a shit-storm about it or if it will fall flat.

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  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 20 2021, @04:27AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 20 2021, @04:27AM (#1158156)

    What if the authoritarian regimes are criminal? A Mexican journalist was just assassinated as a result of Pegasus, and the people who gunned him down conveniently took his phone right before they split.

    Everybody and their fucking mom knows that the cartels run the Mexican Government. Those who doubt it can look up the Culiacan incident in which the Government had El Chapo's son, but had to release him because the cartels were too strong and violent militarily. Political theory is full of examples of what happens when the state loses their monopoly on violence. Israeli companies who enable this shit, in Mexico, cannot possibly hide behind the, "B-b-but we vet all of our customers" bullshit.

    Now I'll explain where the Jews fit into this. El Chapo's wife is publicly Jewish, [nypost.com] and the greater symbolism here is that Mexican Cartels, like the state of Israel, are international crime syndicates...perhaps even cooperating and operating under the same umbrella. Mexican commandos, who work for the government, a government run by cartels, are trained by Israelis. [mintpressnews.com] One might suggest that the CIA is the primary driver of cartel training and violence, but the CIA might as well be considered Mossad just as the Mexican government might as well be considered the cartels. It is estimated that 25% of Mexicans are Jewish, [timesofisrael.com] converso Jews who fled Europe during the inquisition. By my estimate, the rate of Jewish ancestry in Mexico is a much higher figure, as evidenced by their "gimme gimme" attitudes and lack of foresight in how they piss off everybody around them just to get their gimmies.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Opportunist on Tuesday July 20 2021, @06:40AM

      by Opportunist (5545) on Tuesday July 20 2021, @06:40AM (#1158179)

      No government in the history of mankind labeled itself criminal. And since they're the ones making the laws...

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 20 2021, @11:06AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 20 2021, @11:06AM (#1158217) Journal

      but the CIA might as well be considered Mossad just as the Mexican government might as well be considered the cartels.

      How about in a world where we don't conflate different organizations like you just did?

      It is estimated that 25% of Mexicans are Jewish, converso Jews who fled Europe during the inquisition. By my estimate, the rate of Jewish ancestry in Mexico is a much higher figure, as evidenced by their "gimme gimme" attitudes and lack of foresight in how they piss off everybody around them just to get their gimmies.

      You do realize that every human has problems with that? Your post is an example of the absurdity of shoehorning human dysfunctionality into one frivolous metric.