Powerful Israeli Smartphone Spyware Targets Mexico's Missing Student Investigators

Minimalist · Jul 10, 2017

In recent months, one of the most powerful cellphone surveillance tools ever seen has been spreading across Mexico. The produce of Israeli company NSO Group, a portfolio firm of American private equity business Francisco Partners, the Pegasus spyware been found targeting Mexican politicians, activists, scientists and journalists, amongst others. And now researchers say it's going after a new group: the organization tasked with investigating the disturbing disappearance of 43 students in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...spyware-targets-missing-student-investigators

guest · Jul 31, 2018

Powerful Smartphone Malware Used to Target Amnesty International Researcher
Aug 1, 2018
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...-nso-group-amnesty-international-saudi-arabia

Now, human rights charity Amnesty International says hackers used the Israel company’s tools to target one of its researchers earlier this year.

Amnesty was unable to grab the malware the links were designed to deliver, but the domains, as well as ones included in text messages sent to another human rights activist in Saudi Arabia in May, are part of infrastructure previously used by NSO, the report says.

In its own report, Citizen Lab said other messages similar to the second set identified by Amnesty have been sent to other people in the Gulf region. Through its scanning—based on a quirk in how the NSO websites operated—Amnesty identified approximately 600 domains potentially linked to NSO.

Amnesty’s Ingleton added “This story is about more than just the spread of surveillance technologies, it is also about the unabashed use of them by governments to silence human rights. It shows that there is a serious lack of accountability for these violations that must come to a stop. It’s the wild west."
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guest · Sep 18, 2018

Dangerous Pegasus Spyware Has Spread to 45 Countries
September 18, 2018
https://threatpost.com/dangerous-pegasus-spyware-has-spread-to-45-countries/137506/

The infamous Pegasus spyware, which targets iPhones and Android devices, has allegedly infiltrated 45 different countries across the globe — and six of those countries have used surveillance malware in the past to abuse human rights, a group of researchers claimed Tuesday.

The malware has been active since August 2016 when it was discovered that the NSO Group was selling the mobile spyware to governments and third-parties who wanted its surveillance capabilities in order to read texts, track calls, collect passwords, trace phone locations and gather data from apps of victims.

“Our findings paint a bleak picture of the human-rights risks of NSO’s global proliferation,” researchers said in a Tuesday post. “At least six countries with significant Pegasus operations have previously been linked to abusive use of spyware to target civil society, including Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.”
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Minimalist · Nov 27, 2018

Storm brewing over Israeli spyware firm over sales to Saudis

A controversial American-owned Israeli vendor is again under fire after media reports that it is selling spyware to repressive regimes, including Saudi Arabia.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/storm-brewing-over-israeli-spyware-firm-over-sales-to-saudis-516111

Minimalist · Nov 27, 2018

NSO Group spyware used against two Mexican journalists following assassination

One day in May 2017 after the investigative journalist Javier Cárdenas was assassinated in Mexico, two of his colleagues at the Ríodoce newspaper began receiving text messages claiming to have information about the killer.

The texts sent to Andrés Villarreal and Ismael Bojórquez, Ríodoce’s director, included links promising evidence that would prove a Mexican drug cartel was behind Cárdenas’ death. But the messages in fact were a surreptitious attempt by a Mexican government-linked organization to hack the journalists’ phones with Pegasus, a hacking tool that would have allowed operators to monitor their text messages, pictures, location and covertly activate the phones’ microphone and camera.
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https://www.cyberscoop.com/nso-group-spyware-mexico-journalists-assassination/

Minimalist · Dec 4, 2018

Lawsuit Claims Pegasus Spyware Helped Saudis Spy on Khashoggi

A well-known Saudi dissident previously targeted by the notorious Pegasus spyware has filed a lawsuit against that spyware’s authors, Israel-based NSO Group. The suit claims that Pegasus was instrumental in the Saudi government’s surveillance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi leading up to his murder in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
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https://threatpost.com/lawsuit-claims-pegasus-spyware-helped-saudis-spy-on-khashoggi/

guest · Feb 14, 2019

U.S. fund sells Israeli hacking firm NSO Group amid spy mystery
February 14, 2019
https://www.fastcompany.com/90307864/u-s-fund-sells-israeli-hacking-firm-nso-group-amid-spy-mystery

The founders of Israeli spyware company NSO Group bought the firm back from U.S. private equity firm Francisco Partners, with support from Novalpina, a European private equity firm, and New York investment bank Jefferies Group.

The sale follows a highly turbulent month for the controversial cyberweapons firm, whose powerful spyware, Pegasus–capable of taking over smartphones–has been used by a number of governments to target dissidents, journalists, and lawyers.
Specific terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the acquisition includes an investment of about $100 million by the co-founders, and reportedly values the company at nearly $1 billion. San Francisco-based Francisco Partners bought a 70 percent stake in NSO Group in 2014 for a reported $120 million.

In recent years, the private equity fund had been trying to sell the company without success.
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Minimalist · Feb 18, 2019

Open Letter to Novalpina Capital on Involvement in the Purchase of NSO Group

I am writing in my capacity as Director of the Citizen Lab in response to your letter dated February 15, 2019 regarding Novalpina Capital’s involvement in the purchase of NSO Group.

Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research laboratory based at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Since 2016, we have published a total of 11 reports regarding NSO Group’s spyware. These reports provide empirical evidence that NSO Group’s technology has been used abusively and illegally to spy on civil society, human rights defenders, and journalists, among other targets.
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https://citizenlab.ca/2019/02/open-...-on-involvement-in-the-purchase-of-nso-group/

guest · Mar 25, 2019

NSO Group
Hacking Lawyers or Journalists Is Totally Fine, Says Notorious Cyberweapons Firm
March 25, 2019
https://gizmodo.com/hacking-lawyers-or-journalists-is-a-ok-says-notorious-1833533568

The founder and CEO of NSO Group, the notorious Israeli hacking company with customers around the world, appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday night to defend the use of his company’s tools in hacking and spying on lawyers, journalists, and minors when the country’s customers determine the ends justify the means.

“In order to catch El Chapo, for example, they had to intercept a journalist, an actress, and a lawyer,” NSO Group founder Shalev Hulio told 60 minutes. "[...] But if they are in touch with a drug lord and in order to catch them, you need to intercept them [...]"

NSO Group’s tools, most famous of which is its Pegasus spyware, have also been used to spy on minors.
“I only say that we are selling Pegasus to prevent crime and terror,” Hulio said last night.
Hulio claimed his software was responsible for saving tens of thousands of lives.
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guest · Apr 8, 2019

A Top Progressive Consulting Firm Is Doing PR for an Israeli Spy Company
April 5, 2019
https://theintercept.com/2019/04/05/pegasus-spyware-pr-skdknickerbocker/

NSO Group, which is facing multiple lawsuits charging that its technology was used to spy on journalists and dissidents, hired SKDKnickerbocker to help with media inquiries as the spy firm tries to turn around its marred image.
The hiring, which was first reported by FastCompany, is the latest example of how SKDKnickerbocker is anything but progressive, despite the way it markets itself.

The communications and consulting firm is now a central part of the NSO Group’s public relations offensive, launched after a spate of reports revealed how NSO’s infamous Pegasus spyware has invaded the phones of journalists and activists, turning their iPhones and Androids into walking spy devices.

“They’re trying to do damage control,” said Courtney Radsch, advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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Minimalist · May 13, 2019

Human rights groups to ask Israeli court to revoke NSO Group’s export license

Human rights advocates, including Amnesty International, plan to file a petition Tuesday in Israeli court to revoke mobile spyware vendor NSO Group’s export license, citing alleged abuses stemming from the vendor’s technology.
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https://www.cyberscoop.com/nso-group-export-license-revoke-amnesty-international/

guest · May 29, 2019

Saudi Arabia accused of hacking London-based dissident
Kingdom targeted satirist Ghanem Almasarir with Israeli malware, letter of claim alleges
May 28, 2019
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...cking-london-based-dissident-ghanem-almasarir

Saudi Arabia has been accused of launching a sophisticated hacking attack against a prominent dissident in London who is allegedly living under police protection, according to a letter of claim that has been sent to the kingdom and seen by the Guardian.
According to the letter of claim, Almasarir received suspicious text messages in June 2018. These were tracked by independent experts to a Pegasus operator who was “focused on Saudi Arabia” and were linked to a separate attack against another Saudi critic.

The letter of claim alleges that certain indicators on Almasarir’s two Apple iPhones, coupled with the fact that he had clicked on corrupt weblinks sent to him, as well as Saudi Arabia’s widely reported use of Pegasus, led to the “inevitable conclusion” that the kingdom was responsible for sending Almasarir the texts and for the infection of his devices.

The allegations rely in part on analysis conducted by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School, a research laboratory that focuses on information security and has closely tracked NSO and Pegasus.
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Dermot7 · Jun 18, 2019

GENEVA (Reuters) - The world should impose a moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance software until there are rules in place to stop governments using it to spy on their opponents and critics, a U.N. expert recommended.
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U.N. surveillance expert urges global moratorium on sale of spyware - Reuters

guest · Jul 19, 2019

NSO Group spyware could potentially scrape a person's full history, including location, messages and photos
July 19, 2019
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...cy-nso-whatsapp-privacy-spyware-a9012281.html

NSO Group is able to secretly scrape data from the servers of the technology giants in order to steal a person's location information, photos or messages, The Financial Times reported after speaking to people familiar with the firm's sales pitch.
The company is already notorious for its Pegasus malware, which is used by intelligence agencies to obtain private data from people's smartphones.

Amazon said it has found no evidence of the software within its systems, Facebook said it was "reviewing these claims", while Microsoft urged users to "maintain a healthy device". Google declined to comment but Apple acknowledged that it was possible NSO's tool could work on some infected devices.

"While some expensive tools may exist to perform targeted attacks on a very small number of devices, we do not believe these are useful for widespread attacks," Apple told the FT.
NSO did not deny that it had built the surveillance software, but a spokesperson said the company did not promote such tools for cloud services.

"We do not provide or market any type of hacking or mass-collection capabilities to any cloud applications, services or infrastructure," the spokesperson said.
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Financial Times [paywalled]

Minimalist · Sep 11, 2019

The DEA Didn’t Buy Malware From Israel’s Controversial NSO Group Because It Was Too Expensive

Emails between the DEA and NSO obtained by Motherboard explain why the DEA didn't purchase the company's malware in 2014.
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https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3kxk9j/dea-didnt-buy-malware-nso-group-too-expensive

mirimir · Sep 11, 2019

Couldn't the NSA share something?

guest · Sep 11, 2019

Infamous surveillance tech vendor makes pledge to follow UN human rights policy
September 11, 2019
https://www.zdnet.com/article/surve...akes-pledge-to-follow-un-human-rights-policy/

NSO Group, an Israeli company known for selling surveillance software (spyware) to governments across the world, has made a pledge this week to follow the UN's human rights framework and adopt measures to prevent customers from abusing its tools to do harm.

NSO has always denied having any knowledge of these abuse while they were going on, and has always said it only wanted to sell surveillance technology to law enforcement authorities across the world.
However, multiple reports have linked the company's tools to incidents where its software had been installed on the devices of people who had not committed any crimes, other than criticizing governments or investigating incumbent officials.
NSO: MISUSE EXTREMELY RARE
In a press release on Tuesday, September 10, NSO officials admitted that some of their customers did abuse their tools in the past. In an email to ZDNet, an NSO Group spokesperson said the company found three cases of confirmed misuse of its technologies, which they moved to shut down.
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS YET TO BE CONVINCED

"NSO needs to demonstrate this is more than an attempt to whitewash its tarnished reputation," said Danna Ingleton, Deputy Director of Amnesty Tech.
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Minimalist · Sep 12, 2019

mirimir said: ↑

Couldn't the NSA share something?
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I doubt that they want to share and potentially expose their tools.

guest · Oct 10, 2019

Morocco Rights Advocates Targeted by Spyware: Amnesty
October 10, 2019
https://www.securityweek.com/morocco-rights-advocates-targeted-spyware-amnesty

The rights group said academic and activist Maati Monjib and human rights lawyer Abdessadak El Bouchattaoui had received SMS messages containing malicious links through spyware developed by Israel's NSO Group.

"Amnesty International's research has uncovered chilling new evidence that further illustrates how NSO Group's malicious spyware is enabling state-sponsored repression of human rights defenders," Danna Ingleton of Amnesty's technology division said in a statement.
Clicking on the links would have allowed "the sender to obtain near-total control of the phone" by secretly installing Pegasus software, Amnesty said.
NSO says it does not operate the Pegasus system, only licensing it to closely vetted government users "for the sole purpose of preventing or investigating serious crime including terrorism".
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guest · Jan 15, 2020

Amnesty to petition for revoking of export license of Israeli spyware firm NSO
January 15, 2020
https://www.timesofisrael.com/amnes...f-export-license-of-israeli-spyware-firm-nso/

Amnesty International said Tuesday it will petition the courts to revoke the export license of NSO Group, an Israeli firm that makes phone spyware that the rights group says is being used to violate civil rights around the world.

A petition will be filed at Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday, the London-based human rights organization in a statement.
There have been numerous claims that NSO Group software is being used to hack government officials, journalists and dissidents across the globe.

“Although the company says it undertakes a rigorous review before sales of its products, these claims lack detail and, considering the number of attacks on civil society, appear to have been ineffective in numerous cases,” Amnesty said.
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The Defense Ministry declined to comment on Amnesty’s case against the NSO Group license, saying it doesn’t issue statements on individual cases. However, the ministry noted that its methods for monitoring defense exports are “subject to constant scrutiny and periodic assessments,” Reuters reported Tuesday.
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Minimalist · Jan 28, 2020

Someone Tried to Hack My Phone. Technology Researchers Accused Saudi Arabia.

From a suspicious text message I received, technology researchers concluded that hackers working for Saudi Arabia had targeted my phone with powerful Israeli software.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/reader-center/phone-hacking-saudi-arabia.html

Minimalist · Jun 15, 2020

Research shows human rights activists in India were targeted with spyware, including NSO's Pegasus

Human rights activists in India were targeted by a coordinated spyware campaign from January to October of 2019, according to research published Monday by Amnesty International and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.
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https://www.cyberscoop.com/india-spyware-nso-group-amnesty-international-citizen-lab/

Minimalist · Jul 13, 2020

Israeli court rejects request to revoke NSO Group's export license

An Israeli judge has ruled against revoking the export license of Israeli software surveillance firm NSO Group, despite allegations its software has been used to target human rights activists and political dissidents around the globe.
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https://www.cyberscoop.com/nso-group-amnesty-international-israel-export/

Dermot7 · Dec 7, 2020

Corrupt Mexican officials have helped drug cartels in the country obtain state-of-the-art spyware which can be used to hack mobile phones, according to a senior DEA official.

As many as 25 private companies – including the Israeli company NSO Group and the Italian firm Hacking Team – have sold surveillance software to Mexican federal and state police forces, but there is little or no regulation of the sector – and no way to control where the spyware ends up, said the officials.
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'It's a free-for-all': how hi-tech spyware ends up in the hands of Mexico's cartels | Mexico | The Guardian

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