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WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

ft.com

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Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#51

Post by coreman »

sb057 wrote: post #41

This is the same country that has a secret nuclear stockpile (developed in partnership with Apartheid South Africa) with plans to use the threat of bombing their European "allies" as blackmail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option

The "Samson Option" is a conspiracy theory that if Israel is ever at the brink of destruction it will nuke Europe and America. It is a conspiracy theory based on the ramblings of one Israeli historian and one American author.

Israel has nuclear weapons and its MAD policies are probably the same as other nuclear powers.

It's funny because Putin has actually said that Russia will end up destroying the entire world in retaliation if Russia is ever attacked with nuclear weapons. But for some reason you don't see this quote get the same attention as the "Samson Option".

‘Why would we want a world without Russia?'

Days later, he reiterated his stance, implying that nuclear war — a “disaster for the entire world” — would be a response to a major attack against Russia: “as a citizen of Russia and the head of the Russian state, I must ask myself: ‘Why would we want a world without Russia?'”

‘Why would we want a world without Russia?'

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2019/01/27/commentary/w...

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#52

Post by p0rkbelly »

thelittleone wrote: post #46

I guess these types of vulnerabilities could be placed intentionally. It would allow certain agencies to again access via "exploit" and all the while claim they support user privacy. These companies are under pressure from governments (like the recent Australian government law to requiring access to encrypted messages). Seems like a decent solution for company and governments.

The industry calls this a "bug-door" and yes, plausible deniability is key. Most of this has been hypothetical possibility. This case does not fit that bill though as the vendor discovered it was being used by another country, prevented the exploit against a user, fixed it, and alerted the authorities. Would be more peculiar if it was a US-based company selling the spyware.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#53

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

ct520 wrote: post #44
xenospn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They managed to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges using a very sophisticated attack. Read up on Stuxnet. Also, as an Israeli, I can 100% confirm that Israelis have absolutely no issues with crossing any kind of boundary. The fact that others think that such a thing as "boundaries" exist only serves as an advantage.

I’m sure it was completely Israeli government involvement with the technologically advanced US playing no lead role. ...

The US provides the VC funding.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#54

Post by YUMad »

Paraesthetic wrote: post #29
darkestloud wrote: post #13

Nice to see Israel not only colonizing and occupying land, but supporting terrorist organizations that attack human rights advocates.

Nice little bit of anti-Semitism there

"Calling out illegal behavior by a nation-state" = "antisemitism"?

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#55

Post by eitland »

sb057 wrote: post #41

This is the same country that has a secret nuclear stockpile (developed in partnership with Apartheid South Africa) with plans to use the threat of bombing their European "allies" as blackmail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option

> with plans to use the threat of bombing their European "allies" as blackmail.

I read through this but was not able to find anything about bombing allies.

Can you point to exactly where it is written?

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#56

Post by pvg »

galadran wrote: post #5

Interesting! Google's Project Zero team investigated WhatsApp's and Facetime's video conferencing last year: "Overall, WhatsApp signalling seemed like a promising attack surface, but we did not find any vulnerabilities in it. There were two areas where we were able to extend the attack surface beyond what is used in the basic call flow. First, it was possible to send signalling messages that should only be sent after…

In both cases, the close source nature of the applications stymied their efforts.

Why do you say that? In the WhatsApp case, they were able to repeatedly modify the code and also yank it out and run it in their own controlled environment, etc.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#57

Post by roywiggins »

bjourne wrote: post #36
roywiggins wrote: post #11

It's not just the NSO group. Hacking Team is not exactly shy about the services they offer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacking_Team FinFisher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinFisher MiniPanzer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniPanzer_and_MegaPanzer

Wow! I had no idea there was a whole industry selling spyware to dictatorships. Surveillance equipment, yes, but not actual hacking tools. Really sickening. Must be why governments in Europe are so afraid of Huawei building 5G networks - they will only run Chinese spyware.

It's not that much different from mercenary outfits like The Company Formerly Known As Blackwater. They offer services to all sorts of unsavory regimes. Hackers for hire are just another iteration on the idea.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#58

Post by mirimir »

xenospn wrote: post #12
bjourne wrote: post #7

All my life I've thought spyware was developed primarily by evil Russian and Chinese hackers. But apparently also by Israeli developers with their government's blessing and open endorsement. That's some very shady stuff. Before someone says something about government surveillance of fiber cables. Yes, that is also bad, but exploiting vulnerabilities to install spyware on peoples phones... It crosses yet another line…

They managed to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges using a very sophisticated attack. Read up on Stuxnet. Also, as an Israeli, I can 100% confirm that Israelis have absolutely no issues with crossing any kind of boundary. The fact that others think that such a thing as "boundaries" exist only serves as an advantage.

From what I've seen, they're not at all unique. Maybe they're more honest about it, though. And given that they're surrounded by enemies, they must maintain that reputation.

"I'm crazier than you are." has always been the US position re strategic nuclear weaponry.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#59

Post by lostlogin »

coreman wrote: post #51
sb057 wrote: post #41

This is the same country that has a secret nuclear stockpile (developed in partnership with Apartheid South Africa) with plans to use the threat of bombing their European "allies" as blackmail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option

The "Samson Option" is a conspiracy theory that if Israel is ever at the brink of destruction it will nuke Europe and America. It is a conspiracy theory based on the ramblings of one Israeli historian and one American author. Israel has nuclear weapons and its MAD policies are probably the same as other nuclear powers. It's funny because Putin has actually said that Russia will end up destroying the entire world in r…

> Israel has nuclear weapons and its MAD policies are probably the same as other nuclear powers.

But with a much more controversial relationship with it neighbours, who’s land it illegally occupies and state policies that are compared to apartheid policies.

Re: WhatsApp voice calls were used to inject spyware on phones

#60

Post by joecool1029 »

JacobHenner wrote: post #24

Wonder if this affects Signal, too.

My gut tells me no. Signal switched over to using the Signal Protocol for call signaling. It had used a few different signaling standards over the years (when it used to be called Redphone).

However, it's impossible to really know for sure as the server component for calls is a proprietary black box.

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