Israel accused of planting mysterious spy devices near the White House

[HAL9000]

The U.S. government concluded within the past two years that Israel was most likely behind the placement of cellphone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, according to three former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

But unlike most other occasions when flagrant incidents of foreign spying have been discovered on American soil, the Trump administration did not rebuke the Israeli government, and there were no consequences for Israel’s behavior, one of the former officials said.

The miniature surveillance devices, colloquially known as “StingRays,” mimic regular cell towers to fool cellphones into giving them their locations and identity information. Formally called international mobile subscriber identity-catchers or IMSI-catchers, they also can capture the contents of calls and data use.

Israel accused of planting mysterious spy devices near the White House

Bit about imsi catchers

https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/sites/default/files/Explainers-IMSI_1202.pdf

Imsi is not the same as the telephone number, its a unique number which identifies the user to the mobile network operator. I assume the imsi's captured are then used to help spies work out which mobile phone calls to decode and monitor.

"When operating in active mode, the Stingray device mimics a mobile phone base station in order to force all nearby mobile phones and other cellular data devices to connect to it."

Stingray phone tracker - Wikipedia

 

[weltweit]

Interesting article.
Wonder if it is true?

 

[HAL9000]

Interesting article.
Wonder if it is true?

For some time there have been reports of imsi's catchers operating in Washington DC, this story is from June 2018. At the time we didn't know who were operating these devices

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed for the first time that it is aware of unauthorized cell-site simulators, the surveillance tools often called stingrays or IMSI Catchers, in various parts of Washington DC.

While it's not surprising that foreign intelligence groups or criminal actors would be cell-snooping in the nation's capital, the DHS statement is the first US government acknowledgement that sensitive political communications, not to mention those of anyone in DC, are at risk of interception by devices that are currently unaccounted for. In spite of this step, though, observers find it unlikely that any group will move to defuse the threat in the foreseeable future.

DC's Stingray Mess Won't Get Cleaned Up

 

[StoneRoad]

Call me cynical, if you like, but I think it is far more likely they were/are spying on themselves.

 

[weltweit]

Call me cynical, if you like, but I think it is far more likely they were/are spying on themselves.

What do you mean, an American agency spying on the white house?
Possible I suppose but what about the components in the devices?

 

[Gromit]

We spy on our enemies and we spy on our friends. We spy on our friends more than our enemies. Just to make sure they are going to stay our friends.
We already know our enemies are up to no good without spies... as they’re our enemies.

 

[Supine]

Israel always gets the blame for this kind of thing. It could have been us!

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

Israel always gets the blame for this kind of thing. It could have been us!

Does the server fund stretch that far?

 

[Supine]

Does the server fund stretch that far?

Oops. Could be my last post on urban

 

[SpookyFrank]

We spy on our enemies and we spy on our friends. We spy on our friends more than our enemies. Just to make sure they are going to stay our friends.
We already know our enemies are up to no good without spies... as they’re our enemies.

From the Snowden stuff it seems it's now standard for allies to spy on each other's populations and then share the information, as this is somehow less dodgy than a state spying on its own population, which of course they also do.

 

[ska invita]

BUMP

I think this is an interesting story in the FT - interesting to see a corporate monster taking on a state-backed* monster (I presume NSO didnt get to where they are without backing from the Israeli state). I'd imagine (based on the line in this piece about its debt obligations) that damages would be crippling to NSO if found guilty, which they clearly are. Maybe that's just my wishful thinking. Anyhow a rare chance to cheer on Apple

Apple sues Israeli spyware group NSO​

iPhone maker accuses company of ‘egregious, deliberate and concerted effort’ to target and attack its users

Apple is suing NSO Group Technologies, the Israeli military-grade spyware manufacturer that created surveillance software used to target the mobile phones of journalists, political dissidents and human rights activists, to block it from using its products. The iPhone maker’s lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in California, alleged that NSO, the largest known Israeli cyber warfare company, had spied on and targeted Apple users.

It is seeking damages as well as an order stopping NSO from using any Apple software, device or services. NSO develops and sells its spyware, known as Pegasus, which exploits vulnerabilities in iPhones and Android smartphones, and allows those who deploy it to infiltrate a target’s device unnoticed. Apple’s suit provided new details about a recently patched vulnerability, nicknamed FORCEDENTRY, that was used by NSO’s clients for about eight months to deliver code to an unspecified number of targets. NSO said its software had saved “thousands of lives . . . around the world” and that its technology helped governments “catch paedophiles and terrorists”.

The company has never provided any evidence to back up those claims, citing confidentiality agreements with the government agencies that NSO sells to with the approval of the Israeli authorities. It has recently appealed to the Israeli government to help lobby the White House to remove NSO from a US Department of Commerce blacklist for selling a technology that has resulted in “transnational repression”, according to two people familiar with the request. It is not known if the Israeli government has acted on that request.

The US government announced this month that it had added NSO Group and rival Tel Aviv-based Candiru to the trade blacklist, which would restrict exports of US hardware and software to the companies, as it cracks down on the global hacking-for-hire industry. Recommended Marietje Schaake We need a new global standard to curb intrusive spyware Apple’s lawsuit comes as Moody’s cut NSO’s debt two notches to eight levels below investment grade, indicating a high risk of default on $500m in loans.

The company had fully drawn down a bank credit line, Moody’s said, and tight liquidity meant NSO could breach a covenant on its debt, leading to a default. Pegasus was revealed in July to have been used to target smartphones belonging to dozens of journalists, human rights activists and politicians, according to an investigation by a consortium of newspapers. “State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability.

That needs to change,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice-president of software engineering, said in a statement. “Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market — but private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous.”

Apple’s complaint comes just weeks after the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that NSO and its parent company Q Cyber were not sovereign entities and therefore were not shielded from an earlier lawsuit brought by Facebook accusing NSO of targeting users of its WhatsApp messaging service. In the complaint, Apple called NSO a group of “notorious” and “amoral” hackers that act as “mercenaries” creating cyber-surveillance machinery “that invites routine and flagrant abuse” for commercial gain.

The US company accused NSO of violating multiple federal and state laws “arising out of their egregious, deliberate and concerted efforts in 2021 to target and attack Apple customers”. Apple issued an emergency software update in September after a vulnerability from Pegasus was exposed by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

 

[Pickman's model]

I thought this must have been covered in detail here - I was told about Pegasus some years back in a pm, and astonished to see the revelations of the last few months including an apparent prevention of this being placed on UK phones

 

[NoXion]

Ugh, I really hate spooks and spookery. There is no act too immoral, no deed too awful, and no crime too outrageous for them to commit. They will protect nonces and shelter monsters and prop up tyrants. Everyone is suspect in a world without sincerity and without good faith. Reality itself shifts into a Protean mess of half-truths and propaganda and misdirection. Oh, and you can never truly retire from this shit, short of being put six foot under.

They justify this dystopian universe (to themselves if no one else) by saying that they're doing it for the love of their country. Their actions put the lie to this conceit. Spies and intelligence agencies regularly commit crimes against "their own" people, who might as well count among the enemy since they live in such different worlds. No, I am convinced that it's all about perpetuating themselves now. Consciously or not, they think of themselves as the true power behind the political systems they operate within.

Not quite the topic I know, but I wanted to get that off my chest.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I would be surprised if it were only Israel.

 

[Curiouscarl]

Can someone please explain to me, like I'm a child. Why, the US and UK give Israel money.
Example. Patel is giving some of the UK's cash to the state and getting into trouble and also the US is giving billions to Israel before their own people.

No crazy conspiracy theories please.

 

[keybored]

Can someone please explain to me, like I'm a child. Why, the US and UK give Israel money.
Example. Patel is giving some of the UK's cash to the state and getting into trouble and also the US is giving billions to Israel before their own people.

No crazy conspiracy theories please.

So they can afford to buy loads of arms from us.

 

[gentlegreen]

Can someone please explain to me, like I'm a child. Why, the US and UK give Israel money.
Example. Patel is giving some of the UK's cash to the state and getting into trouble and also the US is giving billions to Israel before their own people.

No crazy conspiracy theories please.

Well the British Invented the state of Israel in the first place.
The "Judaeo-Christian" thing in the US is very real - as well as hypocritical given plenty of antisemitism in the past - and present among "Christians".

I was trawling the sewers of the Andrew Wakefield scandal yesterday and of course Melanie Philips is a born-again vaccinator because of Israel.

 

[Curiouscarl]

So they can afford to buy loads of arms from us.

Ahh. Ok.

Thank you. Vested interest. Like i'm aware that Israel is fantastic at technology innovation.

But, why did Israel destroy a US submarine once?

And supposedly steal technology and sell it to China?

I think I'm being naive.

Business is business.

 

[Curiouscarl]

Well the British Invented the state of Israel in the first place.
The "Judaeo-Christian" thing in the US is very real - as well as hypocritical given plenty of antisemitism in the past - and present among "Christians".

I was trawling the sewers of the Andrew Wakefield scandal yesterday and of course Melanie Philips is a born-again vaccinator because of Israel.

Thank you for your reply.

My conclusion is.........humans suck sometimes.

 

[gentlegreen]

It's a political anchor in the oil states - an excuse to wield power in the region.

Christopher Hitchens famously regularly referred to Israel's total lack of oil.