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Enough is enough

nsogroup.com

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Re: Enough is enough

#61

Post by praptak »

nindalf wrote: post #29
igorzx31 wrote: post #9

NSO Group is dead at this point. They fucked with the wrong people. Hacking human rights advocates is fine but when Presidents and PMs start getting their phones hacked I am sure they will implement legislation to outlaw this type of software.

It’s an Israeli weapon, subject to arms control legislation. But that legislation can only be authored by Israel itself. So it doesn’t matter what other countries outlaw, Israel will continue to authorise NSO to sell the software to state actors around the world. Israel could always do with an extra friend or two and providing this software gains them a friend while costing them nothing.

Israel is not immune from international pressure though.

Re: Enough is enough

#62

Post by jonplackett »

gonehome wrote: post #50
notafraudster wrote: post #22

Pretty embarrassing response, honestly. If you specifically work in an area that can be used for sensitive purposes, you have a moral responsibility as to who you choose to sell to and what you choose to enable them to do. Moreover, if you're going to engage in moral indignation -- we can't possibly be responsible for what our customers do!!! -- then you can't end with a paragraph about how you're a league of superhe…

> "NSO is a technology company. We do not operate the system, nor do we have access to the data of our customers, yet they are obligated to provide us with such information under investigations." This is an abdication of responsibility and I agree the substance and tone of the response from them is really bad. Just because you don't have direct customer data access does not mean that you don't hold some responsibilit…

I think it’s worse than just abdicating responsibility. As if they just didn’t know bad things cound happen.

They’re selling this software to literal tyrants. They knew full well what this would be used for.

Re: Enough is enough

#63

Post by dang »

Here are the significant threads to date. Additions are welcome.

Pavel Durov listed in leaked Pegasus project data - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27906667 - July 2021 (12 comments so far)

Pegasus Project found numbers of Ten PMs, three presidents and a king - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27904236 - July 2021 (17 comments)

NSO Group Hacked - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27902544 - July 2021 (78 comments)

Emmanuel Macron identified in leaked Pegasus project data - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27899133 - July 2021 (58 comments)

Hungarian journalists and critics of Orbán were targeted with Pegasus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27890735 - July 2021 (501 comments)

Edward Snowden calls for spyware trade ban amid Pegasus revelations - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27886209 - July 2021 (80 comments)

iMessage, Apple Music used by NSO Pegasus to attack journalist iPhones - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27882992 - July 2021 (164 comments)

Key Modi rival Rahul Gandhi among potential Indian targets of NSO client - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27882877 - July 2021 (137 comments)

Amazon Shuts Down NSO Group Infrastructure - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27882619 - July 2021 (240 comments)

Private Israeli malware 'Pegasus' used to spy on journalists, activists - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27880409 - July 2021 (7 comments)

iOS 14.6 device hacked with a zero-click iMessage exploit to install Pegasus - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27875976 - July 2021 (162 comments)

How NSO's Pegasus Is Used to Spy on Journalists - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27874173 - July 2021 (24 comments)

Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27874100 - July 2021 (167 comments)

Leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27874027 - July 2021 (136 comments)

Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27727733 - July 2021 (37 comments)

Re: Enough is enough

#64

Post by lisper »

The statement is internally contradictory:

"[W]e [do not] have access to the data of our customers, yet they are obligated to provide us with such information under investigations."

If your customers "are obligated to" provide you with the information, and they meet that obligation, then you have access to the data, because manifestly your customers have given it to you.

This makes it hard for me to see this as anything other than an attempt to obscure the truth (and not a particularly skillful one).

There's also this:

"Any claim that a name in the list is necessarily related to a Pegasus target or Pegasus potential target is erroneous and false." [Emphasis added.]

This is obviously intended to look like a denial, but it isn't. It could well be that all of the names on the list are targets in point of actual fact even if they are not necessarily targets.

Re: Enough is enough

#67

Post by soheil »

notafraudster wrote: post #22

Pretty embarrassing response, honestly. If you specifically work in an area that can be used for sensitive purposes, you have a moral responsibility as to who you choose to sell to and what you choose to enable them to do. Moreover, if you're going to engage in moral indignation -- we can't possibly be responsible for what our customers do!!! -- then you can't end with a paragraph about how you're a league of superhe…

> Kashoggi's widows

Plural?

Re: Enough is enough

#68

Post by bogomipz »

This reads like both an intentional trolling and a "How Not to Do PR 101" guide. It's almost as if they've taken a page from the PR playbook of the type of morally bankrupt and corrupt governments they count as customers. Their official response from a few of days ago was equally laughable:

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/jul/18/response-from-n...

Re: Enough is enough

#69

Post by bronzeage »

Honestly, most of the outrage would be prevented if they just limited each government to just attacking their own civilians. Who would outlaw them then, those same governments?

Their real blunder is allowing cross-country hacking, and now they have to answer for the fact the morocan government abused their tool against Macron.

As for countries with no human rights abusing their citizens, any outraged American should start right at home with how their own government deals with peaceful protesters of 1/6. Human rights are practically an illusion, and governments abusing citizens is nothing new, NSO is literally a drop in the ocean, the only real difference between countries are whether the press is free enough to even report what's happening.

(Hint to Americans: your is not free, either).

Re: Enough is enough

#70

Post by Gibbon1 »

igorzx31 wrote: post #26
arkitaip wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacking NSO would be like attacking the Israeli government and you don't do that because your PM's shitty OpSec was exposed.

Remember the Israelis also need allies.

The Israeli's have two allies of note, the US and Saudi Arabia. Everyone else dislikes to hates them.

The geopolitical clout of the US and Saudi Arabia are in decline.

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