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The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

arstechnica.com

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Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#111

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

FpUser wrote: post #103
Sporktacular wrote: post #98

“We always knew this thing had an expiration date,” (Hulio) told the friend" This was clearly the plan all along. Such companies live and die by their low profiles. Was probably not the founders' first such company nor will it be their last. Next step will be to close up, take the contacts, clients, capital, the lessons learned and the cream of the staff to whatever mercenary, unethical piece of crap they make next.…

>"It'll mean going after the owners, suppliers and employees/contractors with naming/shaming, coordinated sanctions, criminal charges, designated persons lists etc. until their reputations are trash." What a brave approach. Especially in regards to employees. This would close down every other major US company.

"every other major us company" how do you figure? Are most major us companies selling exploits at all, let alone to rogue states?

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#112

Post by post_from_work »

Sporktacular wrote: post #98

“We always knew this thing had an expiration date,” (Hulio) told the friend" This was clearly the plan all along. Such companies live and die by their low profiles. Was probably not the founders' first such company nor will it be their last. Next step will be to close up, take the contacts, clients, capital, the lessons learned and the cream of the staff to whatever mercenary, unethical piece of crap they make next.…

"This is why killing the industry as a whole is so important. It'll mean going after the owners, suppliers and employees/contractors with naming/shaming, coordinated sanctions, criminal charges, designated persons lists etc. until their reputations are trash. No bank would fund it, no parters would supply it and no one with any talent would ever contemplate such a catastrophic career move in future."

And no government of any geopolitical significance would ever support such actions. These kinds of people, and their skills/tools, are FAR too useful.

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#113

Post by kgonza »

hn_throwaway_69 wrote: post #107
bestouff wrote: post #24

So hacking phones for the US governement is ok, but hacking phones for Uganda is not ?

You can't really equate the rules that should apply to full democracies with those that should apply to partial democracies or totalitarian regimes. There's no evidence the US has used NSO like tools to spy on the opposition (post Watergate, anyway). Partial democracies or totalitarian regimes shouldn't be given these tools under any circumstances since they can't be trusted to only use them to investigate legitimate…

The USA is a big supporter of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have waged a destructive war in Yemen. Ergo, the USA and it's leaders are largely responsible for what has happened in Yemen. Yet I am sure that you would argue that Uganda is authoritarian but the USA is a "mature democracy".

Lol.

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#114

Post by [deleted] »

pzo wrote: post #79
profstasiak wrote: post #14

Right now we have mini crisis in Poland connected with this US/NSO war. One prosecutor, who is fighting for indepenend judiciary and against her political boss, head prosecutor Minister of Justice, smaller party Coalition member, got notification her iPhone has been hacked multiple time by Pegasus. She angried the rulling coalition, after she wanted to investigate illegal vote by mail election, that didnt take place…

There is such a polarization right now in Poland between society that let's maybe don't put politics here. I don't like both the opposition and the ruling party but I try to at least read both sides of the story. You are definitely presenting very biased point of view here

[deleted]

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#116

Post by [deleted] »

Sporktacular wrote: post #98

“We always knew this thing had an expiration date,” (Hulio) told the friend" This was clearly the plan all along. Such companies live and die by their low profiles. Was probably not the founders' first such company nor will it be their last. Next step will be to close up, take the contacts, clients, capital, the lessons learned and the cream of the staff to whatever mercenary, unethical piece of crap they make next.…

[deleted]

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#117

Post by HomeDeLaPot »

Sporktacular wrote: post #98

“We always knew this thing had an expiration date,” (Hulio) told the friend" This was clearly the plan all along. Such companies live and die by their low profiles. Was probably not the founders' first such company nor will it be their last. Next step will be to close up, take the contacts, clients, capital, the lessons learned and the cream of the staff to whatever mercenary, unethical piece of crap they make next.…

Phones should be secure. There will always be people with the talent and desire to attack them—if not private, then state-sponsored. There needs to be more engineering work put into finding vulnerabilities, patching them, and preventing more.

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#118

Post by ummonk »

jprd wrote: post #46
kingcharles wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're absolutely right, and I don't think anyone else has made that point. The problem was the spies they tried to fuck with were American spies and American wasn't going to stand for that. As you say, NSO are now just a toy, and if they are destroyed thanks to this, no-one is going to give a fuck.

I cannot see a world in which use of NSO tech is legitimate. Get a court order to tap the phone line, etc. How can usage of a Mossad / IDF tool be considered legitimate? Just because the ruling party in a state decides so, doesn't mean this has any bearing on human rights or _legitimacy_. China is eradicating Uyghur culture and running for-profit concentration camps. These are legitimate uses of their Governmental po…

What makes you think Uganda or China wouldn't be able to get court orders to sign off on their respective actions?

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#119

Post by riffraff »

profstasiak wrote: post #14

Right now we have mini crisis in Poland connected with this US/NSO war. One prosecutor, who is fighting for indepenend judiciary and against her political boss, head prosecutor Minister of Justice, smaller party Coalition member, got notification her iPhone has been hacked multiple time by Pegasus. She angried the rulling coalition, after she wanted to investigate illegal vote by mail election, that didnt take place…

Hungary also had a scandal about the abuse of pegasus by the government against the opposition and independents.

As usual, the EU and the powerful countries who make business there have not made much about it.

People complain about the west enabling the Chinese communist leadership, but it's the same for every corrupt government.

Re: The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse

#120

Post by Blackstone4 »

motohagiography wrote: post #16

I commented previously that the Uganda case was the first truly legitimate application of NSO's tech and the first one that wasn't actually a scandal, as it was by a state without a mature domestic intelligence capability going to market to buy tools of one, to spy on actual spies in its borders. It seems this particular NSO case is being used as bargaining leverage to discredit Israel's position in the Iran nuclear…

Honestly, I think it’s simpler than that. The US does not want smaller nations to have comparable hacking and spying capabilities…
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