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Leak: Israeli Spyware Targets Politicians, Activists, and Journalists

Spyware discovers secrets of the powerful and sends everything to Israel — and this is surely just one of many such operations. How many political leaders have they hacked and are being blackmailed right now? They don’t even fully trust the Jews’ lapdogs like the Washington Post. Still think Israel is our friend? Notice that the controlled media are calling it “misuse” or “abuse” of the software, instead of admitting that this was its purpose all along.

AS Ed Snowden warned in a tweet when the story broke this weekend, “this leak is going to be the story of the year.”

Southfront reports that an Israeli company’s spyware was used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, government officials and human rights activists around the world, according to an investigation by 17 media organizations, published on July 18th.

One of the organizations, The Washington Post, said the Pegasus spyware licensed by Israel-based NSO Group also was used to target phones belonging to two women close to Jamal Khashoggi, a Post columnist murdered at a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.

One of them was his fiancee, and she and the other woman were targeted both before and after his death.

The Guardian, another of the media outlets, said the investigation suggested “widespread and continuing abuse” of NSO’s hacking software, described as malware that infects smartphones to enable the extraction of messages, photos and emails; record calls; and secretly activate microphones.

The investigation highlights widespread and continuing abuse of NSO’s hacking spyware called ‘Pegasus’ which the company confirms is only intended for use against terrorist groups, drug and human traffickers, and criminals.

Pegasus is a very advanced malware that infects iOS and Android devices to allow operators of the spyware to copy messages, photos, calls and other data, including secretly activate microphones and cameras.

Based on the investigation, the leak contains a list of 50,000 phone numbers that have been identified as those of people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016.

The list includes many close family members of one country’s ruler, suggesting he might have instructed the country’s intelligence agencies to explore the possibility of tracking and spying on their own relatives.

The company, NSO Group, issued a statement on its website denying the reporting by the 17 media partners led by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories.

“The report by Forbidden Stories is full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories that raise serious doubts about the reliability and interests of the sources. It seems like the ‘unidentified sources’ have supplied information that has no factual basis and are far from reality,” the company said in the statement.

“After checking their claims, we firmly deny the false allegations made in their report,” the statement said. NSO said its technology was not associated in any way with Khashoggi’s murder.

In a statement, rights group Amnesty International condemning “the wholesale lack of regulation” of surveillance software.

“Until this company (NSO) and the industry as a whole can show it is capable of respecting human rights, there must be an immediate moratorium on the export, sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology,” the rights group said in a statement.

The targeted phone numbers were on a list provided by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International to the 17 media organizations. It was not clear how the groups obtained the list.

The numbers on the list were not attributed, but reporters identified more than 1,000 people spanning more than 50 countries.

They included several Arab royal family members, at least 65 business executives, 85 human rights activists, 189 journalists and more than 600 politicians and government officials – including several heads of state and prime ministers.

“We are deeply troubled to learn that two AP journalists, along with journalists from many news organizations, are among those who may have been targeted by Pegasus spyware,” said Director of AP Media Relations Lauren Easton.

“We have taken steps to ensure the security of our journalists’ devices and are investigating,” she added.

Reuters’ spokesman Dave Moran said, “Journalists must be allowed to report the news in the public interest without fear of harassment or harm, wherever they are. We are aware of the report and are looking into the matter.”

The map below provides insight into how many “customers” NSO Group had that were feeding numbers.

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Source: ZeroHedge and Daleen de Beer

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Truthweed
Truthweed
22 July, 2021 6:11 am

I’m still waiting for the mainstream media to mention that Jamal’s uncle Adnan wass the world’s richest man who made four billion dollars selling US arms to the Saudis. Adnan was also Dodi Fayed’s uncle. A reasonable person might conclude that Israelis killed Jamal because they wanted to send a message that they didn’t want any more arms sales to the Saudis. It would be simple for them to use modern technology impersonate the Saudi prince to give an order for Jamal’s assassination.

cas
cas
28 July, 2021 9:25 pm

Is-ra-el ?
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Ra#etymonline_v_47767
https://www.britannica.com/topic/El

2 most oldest proven cults “religions” on earth worship of a sun god and a serpent “deity”
It’s happening worldwide again for at least the second or third time now in last 5k years. Last times ended with civilizations being buried in the dirt. Will we escape this time? If I were a betting man as I write this nope. Corrupt nature=time for dirt nappy for said civilizations. It is unfortunate. I do hope I’m wrong but even the little bit of history mankind actually “knows” proves this out