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WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

ft.com

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Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#31

Post by olivermarks »

xenospn wrote: post #12
bjourne wrote: post #7

All my life I've thought spyware was developed primarily by evil Russian and Chinese hackers. But apparently also by Israeli developers with their government's blessing and open endorsement. That's some very shady stuff. Before someone says something about government surveillance of fiber cables. Yes, that is also bad, but exploiting vulnerabilities to install spyware on peoples phones... It crosses yet another line…

They managed to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges using a very sophisticated attack. Read up on Stuxnet. Also, as an Israeli, I can 100% confirm that Israelis have absolutely no issues with crossing any kind of boundary. The fact that others think that such a thing as "boundaries" exist only serves as an advantage.

Not clear whether you consider this a good thing or a disgrace?

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#32

Post by StreamBright »

bjourne wrote: post #7

All my life I've thought spyware was developed primarily by evil Russian and Chinese hackers. But apparently also by Israeli developers with their government's blessing and open endorsement. That's some very shady stuff. Before someone says something about government surveillance of fiber cables. Yes, that is also bad, but exploiting vulnerabilities to install spyware on peoples phones... It crosses yet another line…

Not at all, many EU countries produce such tools, some even commercially sold.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#33

Post by v64 »

Paraesthetic wrote: post #16
xenospn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They managed to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges using a very sophisticated attack. Read up on Stuxnet. Also, as an Israeli, I can 100% confirm that Israelis have absolutely no issues with crossing any kind of boundary. The fact that others think that such a thing as "boundaries" exist only serves as an advantage.

Enough of your conspiracy theories

Read the Wikipedia entry on Stuxnet [1] for more details.

> Stuxnet targets SCADA systems and is believed to be responsible for causing substantial damage to Iran's nuclear program. Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, the worm is believed to be a jointly built American/Israeli cyberweapon.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#34

Post by thinkling »

xenospn wrote: post #9
aaomidi wrote: post #6

How were they able to install spyware on iOS devices?

Since there's no version information available, I think it's safe to assume they haven't been doing it on iOS for several years.

It's not clear to me if you're right, but I would rephrase the issue this way:

If there's a vulnerability in Whatsapp, the injected code should only affect Whatsapp.

Otherwise, it's (also) a vulnerability in iOS.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#35

Post by draw_down »

olivermarks wrote: post #31
xenospn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They managed to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges using a very sophisticated attack. Read up on Stuxnet. Also, as an Israeli, I can 100% confirm that Israelis have absolutely no issues with crossing any kind of boundary. The fact that others think that such a thing as "boundaries" exist only serves as an advantage.

Not clear whether you consider this a good thing or a disgrace?

It is clear, I think.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#36

Post by bjourne »

roywiggins wrote: post #11

It's not just the NSO group. Hacking Team is not exactly shy about the services they offer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacking_Team FinFisher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinFisher MiniPanzer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniPanzer_and_MegaPanzer

Wow! I had no idea there was a whole industry selling spyware to dictatorships. Surveillance equipment, yes, but not actual hacking tools. Really sickening. Must be why governments in Europe are so afraid of Huawei building 5G networks - they will only run Chinese spyware.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#38

Post by wahern »

askvictor wrote: post #20
aaomidi wrote: post #6

How were they able to install spyware on iOS devices?

Or Android devices for that matter; app code is sandboxed and signed, and requires user interaction to download any non store code

The secure enclaves on Android smartphones have a poor track record. Even the top-of-the-line manufacturers have seen published hacks of their TEE environments, and those are usually just the tip of the iceberg. Android is incomparable to Apple's platform in this regard. (I'm not trying to argue the iPhone is unhackable, though.)

FWIW, I'm an Android user.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#39

Post by coreman »

bjourne wrote: post #7

All my life I've thought spyware was developed primarily by evil Russian and Chinese hackers. But apparently also by Israeli developers with their government's blessing and open endorsement. That's some very shady stuff. Before someone says something about government surveillance of fiber cables. Yes, that is also bad, but exploiting vulnerabilities to install spyware on peoples phones... It crosses yet another line…

All my life I've thought spyware was developed primarily by evil Russian and Chinese hackers. But apparently also by Israeli developers with their government's blessing and open endorsement. That's some very shady stuff.

Gamma Group is an Anglo-German company that provides similar surveillance software with government blessing and endorsement. Hacking Team (Italian company) sells similar surveillance software to various European governments. Before an embarrassing data breach in 2015 they also used to sell surveillance software to various totalitarian regimes outside Europe.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#40

Post by TheAdamAndChe »

olivermarks wrote: post #31
xenospn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They managed to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges using a very sophisticated attack. Read up on Stuxnet. Also, as an Israeli, I can 100% confirm that Israelis have absolutely no issues with crossing any kind of boundary. The fact that others think that such a thing as "boundaries" exist only serves as an advantage.

Not clear whether you consider this a good thing or a disgrace?

Why do you think their opinion should be expressed in their comment?
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