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The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

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Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#11

Post by GekkePrutser »

curiousgal wrote: post #8
c80e74f077 wrote: post #2

DeepL Translation: According to documents obtained by Disclose and Der Spiegel from European institutions, the Swedish company MSAB has provided the Moroccan police with a software called XRY capable of unlocking all types of smartphones to extract data from calls, contacts, location, but also messages sent and received by SMS, WhatsApp and Signal. As for Oxygen forensic, domiciled in the United States, it has delive…

So does that mean that all phone manufacturers are essentially selling snake oil when it comes to device security?

Kinda. But physical access is a big barrier.

I am really surprised they don't do much against Pegasus though. I'm sure the agencies involved know what exploits it uses by now.

I guess because western powers use these tools too is why they don't lock them out.

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#12

Post by GekkePrutser »

kabylehabyle wrote: post #10
Kukumber wrote: post #6

I'm not surprised, morocco is a source of migrants and drug problems, this cooperation to strengthen security at EU's border makes sense

> source of migrants and drug problems Wow. Sounds like someone is on an agenda.

It's the only African country with a land border to the EU so there's a point. There was a major incident with almost 40 dead at one of these borders only months ago.

I also don't like the framing of migrants and drugs in the same sentence as both issues are ethically very different. But both are driven by organized crime groups and the migrants are victims too. The traffickers take them for all they're worth. It's a problem that needs to be fought.

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#13

Post by Proven »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #9
c80e74f077 wrote: post #2

DeepL Translation: According to documents obtained by Disclose and Der Spiegel from European institutions, the Swedish company MSAB has provided the Moroccan police with a software called XRY capable of unlocking all types of smartphones to extract data from calls, contacts, location, but also messages sent and received by SMS, WhatsApp and Signal. As for Oxygen forensic, domiciled in the United States, it has delive…

Which is fair play. I fully expect authorities from any countries to try to get evidences from physical access to electronic devices in the case of criminal investigation. Just like they can go into ones house and open safes with a torch if a judge allows it. The problem is mass surveillance, not getting data about someone under arrest. Of course, I unfortunatly also fully expect them to abuse that and use it outside…

No post body was provided.

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#14

Post by SnowHill9902 »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #9
c80e74f077 wrote: post #2

DeepL Translation: According to documents obtained by Disclose and Der Spiegel from European institutions, the Swedish company MSAB has provided the Moroccan police with a software called XRY capable of unlocking all types of smartphones to extract data from calls, contacts, location, but also messages sent and received by SMS, WhatsApp and Signal. As for Oxygen forensic, domiciled in the United States, it has delive…

Which is fair play. I fully expect authorities from any countries to try to get evidences from physical access to electronic devices in the case of criminal investigation. Just like they can go into ones house and open safes with a torch if a judge allows it. The problem is mass surveillance, not getting data about someone under arrest. Of course, I unfortunatly also fully expect them to abuse that and use it outside…

No, the problem is backdoors and misleading information.

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#15

Post by Zenst »

Kukumber wrote: post #6

I'm not surprised, morocco is a source of migrants and drug problems, this cooperation to strengthen security at EU's border makes sense

However you spin and paint things - you can not ignore incidents like this:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/27/moroccan-autho...

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#17

Post by rprime »

I am reading in the airport after leaving Morocco. A couple of days ago I received a weird spam SMS message (coming from an iCloud account) that i’ve never seen before. I didn’t open the messages as I know about Pegasus and my senses started to tingle.

I guess it’s time to reset my phone.

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#18

Post by jaclaz »

curiousgal wrote: post #8
c80e74f077 wrote: post #2

DeepL Translation: According to documents obtained by Disclose and Der Spiegel from European institutions, the Swedish company MSAB has provided the Moroccan police with a software called XRY capable of unlocking all types of smartphones to extract data from calls, contacts, location, but also messages sent and received by SMS, WhatsApp and Signal. As for Oxygen forensic, domiciled in the United States, it has delive…

So does that mean that all phone manufacturers are essentially selling snake oil when it comes to device security?

Yes and no.

The manufacturers do their best to protect the users, but when it comes to criminal investigations there are tools[0] that can often make access to smartphone (or computers) data possible.

These tools are often prohibitively expensive and/or only licensed to LEO's (Law Enforcement Officers) and cannot unlock/access "everything", so there is no real "privacy risk" connected to them unless you are charged with a criminal offence and/or arrested.

To give you an example there are cases where an iPhone can be unlocked by two (AFAIK) different tools, one is made by Cellebrite that charges an awful amount of money for each unlock, and the other is Graykey that wants as well a lot of money but you can buy the "unlimited" option:

https://www.forensicfocus.com/forums/mobile-forensics/grayke...

both are only given to authorized investigators (Police/Government) only.

Of course it is possible - in theory - that someone malicious manages to get their hands on one of them and then proceeds to steal the phone from you, and then can afford to spend anything between 3,000 and 10,000 US$ to unlock it and access your data, but I find it improbable.

[0] until the manufacturer patches (if patchable) the vulnerability, and then the race starts to find a new one

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#19

Post by ccouzens »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #11
curiousgal wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does that mean that all phone manufacturers are essentially selling snake oil when it comes to device security?

Kinda. But physical access is a big barrier. I am really surprised they don't do much against Pegasus though. I'm sure the agencies involved know what exploits it uses by now. I guess because western powers use these tools too is why they don't lock them out.

Peagasus is an evolving product. Probably the early versions are useless these days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)#Development_...

I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't always been at full effectiveness on all platforms, as vulnerabilities are patched and others discovered.

Re: The EU has quietly provided Morocco with powerful phone hacking systems [French]

#20

Post by jaclaz »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #12
kabylehabyle wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> source of migrants and drug problems Wow. Sounds like someone is on an agenda.

It's the only African country with a land border to the EU so there's a point. There was a major incident with almost 40 dead at one of these borders only months ago. I also don't like the framing of migrants and drugs in the same sentence as both issues are ethically very different. But both are driven by organized crime groups and the migrants are victims too. The traffickers take them for all they're worth. It's a…

>It's the only African country with a land border to the EU so there's a point.

By "land" you mean "only a few miles of sea", I believe.

There are three spanish islets (exclaves): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave in Morocco, but they don't really count, even if inside Melilla, Ceuta or Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco%E2%80%93Spain_border

you are on Spanish territory, you still need to cross the Gibraltar straight to get to Spain, they are among the few "special territories" of the EU:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_member_state_territori...

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