[HN Gopher] How NSO's Pegasus Is Used to Spy on Journalists
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       How NSO's Pegasus Is Used to Spy on Journalists
        
       Author : rcMgD2BwE72F
       Score  : 159 points
       Date   : 2021-07-18 16:23 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.haaretz.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.haaretz.com)
        
       | jaquer_1 wrote:
       | How would one detect compromised devices?
        
         | dillondoyle wrote:
         | They released this on github. I would love for them to put out
         | a simple tool that allows you to lookup if your number is on
         | the leaked list, they can copy that has my password been pwned
         | technique to make it safe
         | 
         | https://github.com/mvt-project/mvt
        
         | _fzslm wrote:
         | no idea if this is still the case for the latest version of
         | pegasus. but in 2019, it was observed that the malware tries to
         | hide its tracks by cleaning DataUsage.sqlite, a database file
         | that stores records of tx/rx on mobile data. but it left an
         | observable inconsistency in doing so, wiping only one of the
         | two pertinent tables. source[0]
         | 
         | [0] https://twitter.com/billmarczak/status/1416801514685796352
        
       | stefan_ wrote:
       | How have NSO not caught a car bomb yet? They are literally
       | running cyber intelligence ops for foreign governments, many of
       | them certainly not NATO buddies, from the heart of Israel.
        
         | 1cvmask wrote:
         | After all the news and fanfare and Snowden revelations (there
         | was also the Church commission in the 1970s) I really wonder if
         | there are any real terrorists that actually use anything
         | digital anymore. It seems governments are only left to spy on
         | their own citizens, politicians, opposition and public
         | advocates.
        
           | southerntofu wrote:
           | After all the news of Wikileaks, Black Lives Matter, and
           | Church commission revelations (among many others), I really
           | wonder why the biggest terrorist organizations in the world
           | have not been dismantled: police, intelligence agencies,
           | military... These people definitely use digital stuff, but
           | nobody seems to be able to catch them?!
           | 
           | On this thesis, English rapper lowkey:
           | https://youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU (to watch with your
           | favorite invidious/piped instance)
        
             | frickinLasers wrote:
             | Without commenting on your comment...why on earth is that
             | video age-restricted in the US? That's the most chilling
             | thing I've encountered in a long time.
             | 
             | Here's an unrestricted version.
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb2z0XwMtH8
        
               | southerntofu wrote:
               | Well i can understand why it's strongly not recommended
               | for kids, as it's full of actual images of torture and
               | other good deeds of american/european colonization and
               | neo-colonial wars.
               | 
               | But that Youtube prevents you from playing age-gated
               | videos while logged out is a true shame. Thanks for the
               | alternative link! We should upload that to Peertube
               | instead :)
        
         | Despegar wrote:
         | Unless Israel is selling this to Iran, Syria, China, Russia,
         | Cuba or any other Official Enemy of the US, they absolutely
         | aren't rocking the boat in anyway. The other "authoritarian"
         | governments are the good kind, they're pro-US.
        
         | baybal2 wrote:
         | > How have NSO not caught a car bomb yet? They are literally
         | running cyber intelligence ops for foreign governments, many of
         | them certainly not NATO buddies, from the heart of Israel.
         | 
         | Certainly not NATO buddies? Israel never been a buddy of the
         | West. Kennedy almost went for sanctioning them to death, Norko
         | style. Such episodes were recurring until late seventies.
         | 
         | It's been a long running trope that NSO, and multiple other
         | private espionage companies are just cover outlets for Israeli
         | espionage agencies to deny that Israel works with enemies of
         | America.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | keyme wrote:
         | NSO are literally owned by a Europe based private equity firm,
         | and previously owned by a US based one. Their clients (Saudi &
         | UAE) are very much NATO buddies.
        
         | jokoon wrote:
         | Governments might consider that journalists can often do more
         | damage to a government than car bombs.
        
         | thr0wwy wrote:
         | Israel is not in the NATO and it's time that we Westerners stop
         | treating it as a Western entity.
         | 
         | More than half of the Israeli population are of Mizrahi (Arab)
         | and Sephardi (North African) ancestry. Many of them are
         | post-1948 refugees from other Middle Eastern country.
         | 
         | It will be easier to understand Israeli cynicism toward the
         | Arab and Islamic world, which includes selling surveillance
         | software to brutal Arab regimes, if we stop assuming that the
         | country is made of Western Jews.
        
           | bogomipz wrote:
           | >"More than half of the Israeli population are of Mizrahi
           | (Arab) and Sephardi (North African) ancestry."
           | 
           | The Sephardi are Jews from the Iberian Peninsula who were
           | expelled in the 15th century by Ferdiand and Isabella in the
           | Alhambra Decree. Sefarad is the Hebrew word for Spain.
           | Mizrahi would include include both Northern Africa and what
           | we today call the Middle East. Mizrahi is also not an Arab
           | disctintion - example Jews from Persia would be Mizrahi as
           | would Jews from Central Asian countries. Mizrahi means
           | Eastern or Oriental in Hebrew.
        
           | joelbluminator wrote:
           | Well in the same note it would be best to assume Israel is
           | not a liberal democracy then...
        
             | baybal2 wrote:
             | Well, it really, factually isn't for a very obvious reason.
             | 
             | It's Western leaders trying their best to make it seem they
             | don't notice it.
        
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       (page generated 2021-07-18 23:01 UTC)