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WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

tech.newstatesman.com

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Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#21

Post by squarefoot »

KoftaBob wrote: post #9
stefan_ wrote: post #2

I say grant them their wish. Foreign nation state operatives hacking in plain sight in the US, in active war zones? Treat them as the enemy combatants, terrorists even that they want to be recognized as.

NSO Group is an Israeli operation, i.e. working with Mossad, so there is a slim chance of the US treating them as an "enemy combatant".

I woudn't count on that. There's a chance they're at least indirectly funded by the US, since the US pays several billions every year to Israel, both in military and economic aid.

https://ifamericansknew.org/stat/cost_of_israel.html I've no idea of the reliability of that site, however the author was a former US Foreign Service officer.

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#22

Post by dillondoyle »

flyinglizard wrote: post #15
KoftaBob wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NSO Group is an Israeli operation, i.e. working with Mossad, so there is a slim chance of the US treating them as an "enemy combatant".

NSO’s ventures so far have mostly been tied to Arab countries. You can’t assume they work for Mossad anymore than assuming that Google is an extension of the NSA. Israel is a home for many, many cyber security companies, on defense and offense.

An interesting story I read from HN shows it's not out of the question for 'allied' intelligence to provide technology to 'opposition' nation states just to collect that intelligence. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22297963

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#23

Post by aspenmayer »

libpcap wrote: post #6

Is there a way to find out if your phone has been infected by Pegasus malware?

Out of date info, but it was once valid. Relevant because Pegasus malware is a product of NSO Group.

https://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/4zpkkm/release_p...

https://github.com/z448/pgcheck

https://info.lookout.com/rs/051-ESQ-475/images/lookout-pegas...

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#24

Post by ycombi3 »

KoftaBob wrote: post #9
stefan_ wrote: post #2

I say grant them their wish. Foreign nation state operatives hacking in plain sight in the US, in active war zones? Treat them as the enemy combatants, terrorists even that they want to be recognized as.

NSO Group is an Israeli operation, i.e. working with Mossad, so there is a slim chance of the US treating them as an "enemy combatant".

Exactly. They will never face their deserved punishment. Imagine if another country that was a supposed ally did this...

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#25

Post by flyinglizard »

nyolfen wrote: post #20
flyinglizard wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NSO’s ventures so far have mostly been tied to Arab countries. You can’t assume they work for Mossad anymore than assuming that Google is an extension of the NSA. Israel is a home for many, many cyber security companies, on defense and offense.

you can definitely assume they have a cozy relationship: > NSO's founders are ex-members of Unit 8200, the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signals intelligence.[9]

I'd say over 50% of Israeli tech founders come from that unit or one of its siblings. That includes Wix, Checkpoint, Palo Alto Networks and hundreds of others. This really is the backbone of the Israeli tech industry.

Not only that but these people are very tightly integrated into global tech giants - Apple's two large acquisitions in Israel (PrimeSense and Anobit), Facebook's Israeli R&D center (Onavo) and a significant part of Microsoft's cloud security division (Adallom) - all of those are ex. 8200.

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#26

Post by KoftaBob »

squarefoot wrote: post #21
KoftaBob wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NSO Group is an Israeli operation, i.e. working with Mossad, so there is a slim chance of the US treating them as an "enemy combatant".

I woudn't count on that. There's a chance they're at least indirectly funded by the US, since the US pays several billions every year to Israel, both in military and economic aid. https://ifamericansknew.org/stat/cost_of_israel.html I've no idea of the reliability of that site, however the author was a former US Foreign Service officer.

That's pretty much the point I was making. The CIA and Mossad extensively share intelligence with each other, so it's unlikely that A) The US intelligence agencies didn't know about NSO's activities, and B) They'll punish them in any way.

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#27

Post by [deleted] »

KoftaBob wrote: post #9
stefan_ wrote: post #2

I say grant them their wish. Foreign nation state operatives hacking in plain sight in the US, in active war zones? Treat them as the enemy combatants, terrorists even that they want to be recognized as.

NSO Group is an Israeli operation, i.e. working with Mossad, so there is a slim chance of the US treating them as an "enemy combatant".

[deleted]

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#29

Post by simonh »

squarefoot wrote: post #21
KoftaBob wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NSO Group is an Israeli operation, i.e. working with Mossad, so there is a slim chance of the US treating them as an "enemy combatant".

I woudn't count on that. There's a chance they're at least indirectly funded by the US, since the US pays several billions every year to Israel, both in military and economic aid. https://ifamericansknew.org/stat/cost_of_israel.html I've no idea of the reliability of that site, however the author was a former US Foreign Service officer.

Almost all of that is in the form of credit to be used to buy American military equipment and services. It's as much a subsidy for American arms contractors as it's aid to Israel, although yes it is both. Still, it's not cash and they can't just spend it on whatever they like.

Furthermore regarding the linked article, how is a loan guarantee just thrown in to the total. Unless Israel actually defaults on every single loan every year the cost of that is close to zero. Is that really a reasonable assumption to make? So now who's lying.

Re: WhatsApp ties NSO Group’s hacking operations to America in new court evidence

#30

Post by azinman2 »

nyolfen wrote: post #20
flyinglizard wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NSO’s ventures so far have mostly been tied to Arab countries. You can’t assume they work for Mossad anymore than assuming that Google is an extension of the NSA. Israel is a home for many, many cyber security companies, on defense and offense.

you can definitely assume they have a cozy relationship: > NSO's founders are ex-members of Unit 8200, the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signals intelligence.[9]

Israel is small, and military service is required. If you're smart and have talent (versus just muscles), then you'll go through some unit like this during your service. It's a bit like saying Google is an extension of Stanford because that's where the founders came from. It just happens to be a place that people went through.
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