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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

#11

Post by yardie »

hermes8329 wrote: post #9
yardie wrote: post #4

Which is odd because NSO made many assurances to the US govt they were in control of the tech and that US nationals were not to be included. Looks like they weren't in as much control as they stated they were.

Is that sarcasm? The Israelis spying on the us is hardly anything new

A bit of both. I assume they can spy on the US through 5-eyes, 9-eyes, 27eyes, etc. But to allow Uganda to do it was a bridge too far. If NSO had been in almost any other country there wouldn't be a building left standing. The US regards cyberattacks as an act of war.

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

#12

Post by pc86 »

yardie wrote: post #11
hermes8329 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that sarcasm? The Israelis spying on the us is hardly anything new

A bit of both. I assume they can spy on the US through 5-eyes, 9-eyes, 27eyes, etc. But to allow Uganda to do it was a bridge too far. If NSO had been in almost any other country there wouldn't be a building left standing. The US regards cyberattacks as an act of war.

If the US really regarded cyberattacks as an act of war, it would be actively shooting missiles and bullets at China right now. The US regards cyberattacks as acts of war when convenient, nothing more.

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

#13

Post by bawolff »

hermes8329 wrote: post #9
yardie wrote: post #4

Which is odd because NSO made many assurances to the US govt they were in control of the tech and that US nationals were not to be included. Looks like they weren't in as much control as they stated they were.

Is that sarcasm? The Israelis spying on the us is hardly anything new

There's a pretty big difference between israel, the country spying on somebody out of national interest, and israel allowing what is essentially an arms-dealer based in israel to help random other people spy on countries they are allied with.

I highly doubt that israel the country wanted this turn of events, for the simple reason they are not stupid and the cost-benefit ratio of this seems bad for them.

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

#14

Post by profstasiak »

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 at the end but cost Poland 23 mil USD.

The other person that was hacked more than ten times, is famous attorney, previous politician. He was an attorney of opositionfuhrer Donald Tusk, former PM. He was representing multiple high level clients that were suing the government, including one that was scammed by the head of rulling party Law and Justice. Hacking took place in times of campaign before elections.

Poland is such a crazy country right now. If you can write an email to ur congressman to fight for biggest US investment in Poland, TVN tv station that sheds light on this corrupt government. They are trying to make the owner (Discovery) sell TVN, worth one billion USD

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

#15

Post by FabHK »

yardie wrote: post #4

Which is odd because NSO made many assurances to the US govt they were in control of the tech and that US nationals were not to be included. Looks like they weren't in as much control as they stated they were.

Maybe NSO didn't allow it to be used on US numbers. How are they supposed to know the nationality of the user of a phone?

> NSO has always told its customers that US phone numbers are off-limits. In this case, all 11 targets were using Ugandan numbers, but had Apple logins using their state department emails, according to the two US officials.

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

#16

Post by motohagiography »

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 talks. NSO is subject to being a pawn on that board, it's plausible they get sacrificed and this is the story around it. It's a very weird place to be even lightly defending this company based on abstract principles, but they weren't taken out by some of the really egregious things they've done, and this seems fait accompli and we're just waiting for the narrative to complete. I suppose everything within a degree of the world they operate in is smoke and mirrors, but accepting the sanctimony around it at face value makes me feel like a rube.

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

#17

Post by hermes8329 »

bawolff wrote: post #13
hermes8329 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that sarcasm? The Israelis spying on the us is hardly anything new

There's a pretty big difference between israel, the country spying on somebody out of national interest, and israel allowing what is essentially an arms-dealer based in israel to help random other people spy on countries they are allied with. I highly doubt that israel the country wanted this turn of events, for the simple reason they are not stupid and the cost-benefit ratio of this seems bad for them.

History has shown that the two are tightly involved. Plus it's not like they will ever really be held accountable. Pollard the traitor is a hero to Israel

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

#18

Post by mzs »

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…

Could you please name:

> One prosecutor, who is fighting for

> The other person that was hacked more than ten times, is famous attorney

edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29648072

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

#19

Post by artek »

mzs wrote: post #18
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…

Could you please name: > One prosecutor, who is fighting for > The other person that was hacked more than ten times, is famous attorney edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29648072

Roman Giertych is the attorney and Ewa Wrzosek is the prosecutor whose smartphones were hacked.

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

#20

Post by matthewdgreen »

vsareto wrote: post #10
yardie wrote: post #4

Which is odd because NSO made many assurances to the US govt they were in control of the tech and that US nationals were not to be included. Looks like they weren't in as much control as they stated they were.

Naturally, NSO will be blamed instead of the US govt for thinking that was actually possible. Especially after the shadow brokers leak.

It is actually possible to not sell software that spies on US diplomats. Why, I achieve this goal every single day.
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