Imagine that sinking feeling in the NSO offices. Uncle Sam's coming...
U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
81–90 of 651 posts
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
These people are in for a world of hurt, the State Department tells the CIA what to do.
> State Department tells the CIA what to do Your broader point is correct, but no, it doesn't. The CIA is an independent agency [1]. It reports to the DNI [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_agencies_of_the_Un... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intellige...
Yes, but who dictates where and how they can play overseas?
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#83I don't understand the focus on NSO in these stories. If U.S State Department personnel in Uganda were shot from an M-16, would the headline mention "an American arms manufacturer"? No, because it's ridiculous. For better or worse, NSO's product is a weapon. How is it any different from an M-16? Where is the outrage towards the people who used this weapon against the State Department?
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Israel is ostensibly a Western ally, yet they sell weapons that are used to attack Western nations and their citizens. Can you see why some people might consider that a problem?
Your accusations of anti-semitism are unwelcome and without merit.
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#84>In a public response, NSO has said its technology helps stop terrorism and that they've installed controls to curb spying against innocent targets. For example, NSO says its intrusion system cannot work on phones with U.S. numbers beginning with the country code +1. So the point is to stop terrorism and to do that they've immediately ruled that all Americans aren't terrorists. That doesn't seem like a good metric of…
So I just have to buy a US phone to evade detection from NSO? And why didn't that logic work for US State Dept phones? I'm honestly of the opinion there is nothing that NSO can say that isn't outright lying. This isn't a normal company in anyway.
Yeah, this.
They started off with the arrogance of a liar who thought they were immune from consequences. Now they're looking more like the kid who is actually in trouble only now realizing nobody trusts them to identify the sky color, let alone defend themselves.
Anything and anyone coming out of that shop is tainted.
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the U.S thinks it's OK to sell F-15 planes but not OK to sell software? The U.S. thinks it's okay to sell F-15s that don't attack Americans and not okay to sell software that attacks Americans. As a, granted, American, I'm not seeing the incoherence.
Attacks Americans? Come on now, don't go overboard sir.
> Attacks Americans?
I was delineating why the U.S. is fine with selling weapons to e.g. Saudi Arabia but would not be happy about those same weapons being sold by Russia to Iran. You seemed confused on that point. There isn't a grand philosophy. It's international relations. It's anarchy. The U.S. government promotes American and allied interests.
Separately, yes, if you're hacking the State Department, you're attacking the U.S. This is consistent with how cyberterrorism is treated by DNI since at least 2014.
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are you conflating Israel (a state) and NSO (a fully private company, owned by American private equity at some point)?
The Israeli Ministry of Defense licenses the export of Pegasus to foreign governments, but not to private entities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group#Pegasus
These export controls for weapons exist in much of the western world. Once granted a license, Israel has no legal say in how the product is used by the end user.
It’s all very routine and standard, not sure why people need basic explanations of what government export regulation is when the discussion is on Israel.
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#87I don't understand the focus on NSO in these stories. If U.S State Department personnel in Uganda were shot from an M-16, would the headline mention "an American arms manufacturer"? No, because it's ridiculous. For better or worse, NSO's product is a weapon. How is it any different from an M-16? Where is the outrage towards the people who used this weapon against the State Department?
U.S. weapons manufacturers receive a lot of criticism too, both domestically in the U.S. and internationally.
The comments here focus on NSO because the story is about what NSO did. This is computer tech kind of community so you’re going to see more computer weapon stories here than stories about improper use of rifles.
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's my understanding that NSO runs centralized command and control servers that their "clients" are granted access to, for both the on-device payload installation and also data exfiltration. They do not give the software to their clients to go use somewhere in the world fully independently (self hosted payload dropper, C&C, etc) They're a direct participant in the network traffic. Unlike a dumb purely offline piece…
So selling an F-15 to the Saudis (like the U.S is doing in droves) is more morally justifable because what exactly..? After the plane is sold the Saudis are independent with it? (they aren't really btw. I'm sure there's maintenance and buying parts etc).
None one else was talking about F-15s or drones in this thread. The only mention was of weapons that even civilians can buy is some countries and do not come with a support contract attached.
IMO the US selling F-15s or drones to the Saudis is very similar. The US shouldn't be supporting the Saudis murdering civilians with F-15s, and Israel should not be supporting hacking tools that enable other governments (or private organizations) to murder people they dont like.
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US provides substantial financial, military, and political aid to Israel, that it does not provide to Germany.
The U.S basically protects the whole of Europe by subsidizing NATO. It's probably in the trillions. Sorry but Trump had a point there. What it gives Israel is peanuts compared to that. Without U.S support to Europe who knows what happens, maybe the Russians and Chinese start looking at Europe as easy prey to pick on. Also the obsession with Israel isn't a uniquely American thing, it's the same in France and Canada an…
Only if you count general American military spending as supporting Germany more than Israel?
Otherwise, US absolutely provides far more military spending to Israel than to Germany, it's not really comparable.
Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware
#90>In a public response, NSO has said its technology helps stop terrorism and that they've installed controls to curb spying against innocent targets. For example, NSO says its intrusion system cannot work on phones with U.S. numbers beginning with the country code +1. So the point is to stop terrorism and to do that they've immediately ruled that all Americans aren't terrorists. That doesn't seem like a good metric of…
NSO has a deal with US Telecom to grow its market share throughout the world and hence the +1 statement. /s
Maybe NSA wants every important call goes through USA network (and hence a deal with NSO) - makes the job easier for three letter agencies.