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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSeems DU was right about Donny Blackmail.
How Does PEGASUS Work?
18 July 2021, OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)
Excerpt
Pegasus is the flagship product of Israeli cyber-surveillance company NSO Group, perhaps the best known of the new spyware companies. NSO Groups technology allows its clients which the company says are always governments, never private individuals or companies to target specific phone numbers and infect the associated devices with Pegasus code.
But instead of trying to listen in on data flowing between two devices which will probably be encrypted Pegasus allows its users to commandeer the device itself, gaining access to everything on it.
Pegasus also monitors the keystrokes on an infected device all written communications and web searches, even passwords and returns them to the client, while also providing access the phones microphone and camera, turning it into a mobile spying device that the target unwittingly carries with them.
When a phone is compromised, its done in such a way that allows the attackers to obtain administrative privileges on the device. That allows virtually anything to be done on the phone, said Claudio Guarnieri from Amnesty Internationals Security Lab, which has developed a methodology for analyzing infected devices.
CONTINUES
https://www.occrp.org/en/the-pegasus-project/how-does-pegasus-work
This apparently is how Jeff Bezos and his wee willy selfie got into the public domain.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/jeff-bezos-phone-hack-mbs-saudi-arabia
PEGASUS helped Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman target Khashoggi
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-57891506
And everywhere Netanyahu went, Pegasus sales were sure to follow. (Paywall)
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-where-bibi-went-nso-followed-how-israel-pushed-cyberweapons-sales-1.10015034
And wherever theres money to be had, Jareds sure to follow.
Kid Berwyn
(14,876 posts)Leaked list includes number of British peer, as well as details of daughter of Dubai ruler who tried to run away and his ex-wife who fled; Israels NSO Group denies claims
By Times Of Israel, STAFF
22 July 2021
The United Arab Emirates was connected to the listing of hundreds of British phone numbers as potential targets for spyware from Israels NSO Group, including the contact details of a member of the House of Lords, the Guardian reported Wednesday.
According to the report, there are over 400 UK phone numbers on the leaked list, and the main government responsible for selecting those targets was apparently the UAE.
NSOs flagship program, Pegasus, can hack into cellphones without users knowing, enabling clients to read every message, track a users location and tap into the phones camera and microphone. According to the Guardian it is used by 40 countries.
Snip
The numbers also included that of a lawyer working at a firm representing Princess Haya, as well as Baroness Uddin, a member of the House of Lords who told the Guardian that if there was spying on British parliamentarians it would be a great breach of trust which contravenes our sovereignty.
Continues
https://www.timesofisrael.com/uae-said-linked-to-listing-of-400-uk-phone-numbers-as-targets-for-nso-spyware/
dalton99a
(81,451 posts)Kid Berwyn
(14,876 posts)By Mitchell Clark
The Verge, Jul 23, 2021
Throughout the past week, weve seen story after story about a company called NSO Group, and a piece of spyware called Pegasus. Some of the stories have been shocking, with allegations that fully updated smartphones can be hacked with a single text message, and reports that two women close to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi were among those targeted by a government agency using the spy tool.
Snip
WHAT IS PEGASUS, AND WHO OR WHAT IS NSO GROUP?
Pegasus is spyware developed by a private contractor for use by government agencies. The program infects a targets phone and sends back data, including photos, messages, and audio / video recordings. Pegasus developer, an Israeli company called NSO Group, says that the software cant be traced back to the government using it a crucial feature for clandestine operations.
In short, NSO Group makes products that let governments spy on citizens. The company describes the role of its products on its website as helping government intelligence and law-enforcement agencies use technology to meet the challenges of encryption during terrorism and criminal investigations. But as you might imagine, civil liberties groups arent happy about the spyware-for-hire business, and restricting the business to government clients does little to quiet their concerns.
The company told The Washington Post that it works only with government agencies, and that it will cut off an agencys access to Pegasus if it finds evidence of abuse. In its transparency report released at the end of June, the company claimed it has done that before. Still, an Amnesty International statement raised concerns that the company is providing spyware to oppressive governments, where government agencies cant be trusted to do right by their citizens.
The Forbidden Stories organization, which helped lead the Pegasus Projects efforts, has a write-up of the companys exploits and controversies over the past decade, some of which have inspired lawsuits from journalists and activists arguing that NSOs software has been used improperly. The Washington Post also has an interview that covers the companys own story about how it was founded and how it got started in the surveillance industry.
Continues (lots o good links)
https://www.theverge.com/22589942/nso-group-pegasus-project-amnesty-investigation-journalists-activists-targeted
Wounded Bear
(58,647 posts)Kid Berwyn
(14,876 posts)If only we could. He went through, um, Barrs MAGAmorphosis.
An important picture that ties things from commie-hunting Joe McCarthy era to Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump via Roger Stone and Associates and the late Jeffrey Epstein:
The Ghost of Roy Cohn
BY TERRY MELANSON · AUGUST 24, 2014
EXCERPT...
In an interview with former NYPD detective James Rothstein, this author discovered that such operations do exist and go far back into Americas secret history. Rothstein is no conspiracy theorist. He is a legend in American law enforcement and speaks from experience. Furthermore, he gave me two notable examples from his time as a detective. Rothstein had an opportunity to have a sit-down with infamous McCarthy committee counsel Roy Cohn. During this sit-down, Cohn admitted to Rothstein that he was part of a rather elaborate sexual blackmail operation that compromised politicians with child prostitutes (Rothstein, no pagination). Cohn told Rothstein that this operation was being carried out as part of the anticommunist crusade of the time (no pagination).
Rothstein also had an opportunity to speak to infamous Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis. During this conversation, Sturgis revealed one of the reasons for breaking into the Watergate. According to Sturgis, there was a Pedophile Book hidden away at the Democratic National Committee headquarters (no pagination). The book was supposed to have a list of pedophiles on the American political scene (no pagination). One can only imagine the power G. Gordon Liddy would have held over the government if he had such a book in his possession.
I asked Rothstein if Roy Cohn was a real anticommunist or just using the fear of communism to justify his sex ring. It seemed like a fair question. After all, Cohn had argued against homosexuals being schoolteachers when he himself was a homosexual. Perhaps Cohns hypocrisy extended to his anticommunism. Rothstein made it clear that Cohn was a genuine anticommunist (no pagination). Anticommunist sentiments aside, evidence suggests that the sex ring operation started by Cohn was used for more than fighting the threat of domestic communists. Fugitive ex-CIA officer Frank Terpil has claimed that sexual blackmailing operations directed by the CIA were intensive in Washington during the Watergate era (DeCamp 179). Terpil also asserts that his former partner, Ed Wilson, was coordinating one of these sexual blackmail operations (179). In a letter to author Jim Hougan, Terpil revealed Wilsons modus operandi:
Historically, one of Wilsons Agency jobs was to subvert members of both houses [of Congress] by any means necessary . Certain people could be easily coerced by living out their sexual fantasies in the flesh . A remembrance of these occasions [was] permanently recorded via selected cameras . The technicians in charge of filming were TSD [Technical Services Division of the CIA]. The unwitting porno stars advanced in their political careers, some of [whom] may still be in office. (Qtd. in DeCamp 179)
According to John DeCamp, a former Nebraska Senator and Vietnam War hero, Wilsons operation was merely a continuation of the one set up by Cohn (179). When I asked James Rothstein if Palfreys outfit was a continuation of the sexual blackmail rings that began with Cohn, he answered in the affirmative (Rothstein, pagination). The NYPD veteran made it clear that Palfreys outfit could not exist in Washington unless it was a tool for the power elite and sinister factions of the intelligence community (no pagination). Somewhere in a Queens cemetery, the corpse of a high-powered attorney is smiling in his grave.
SOURCE:
https://www.conspiracyarchive.com/2014/08/24/the-ghost-of-roy-cohn/
The same Roy Cohn who taught Donald Drumpf also schooled Roger Stone and Jeffrey Epstein...
... Who knew what when? In Palo Alto, after Epsteins conviction, he was a guest at a dinner for the MIT neuroscientist Ed Boyden that was hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. At the same dinner Elon Musk introduced Epstein to Mark Zuckerberg. Is money so powerful that it tramples all other considerations? As James Baldwin put it, I cant believe what you say, because I see what you do.
One of the most remarkable moments in Tyrnauers documentary comes near the end, when its no longer possible to pretend that Cohn isnt a liar and a fraud, when its no longer possible to deny that he lacks both shame and conscience. When Cohn was about to be disbarred in 1986 for defrauding his clients and for taking advantage of a dying and incompetent man, character witnesses began to emerge. There were letters to the court from William F. Buckley Jr., Barbara Walters, William Safire, and, of course, Trump, who wrote that Cohn has been extremely loyal and extremely honest. Were Cohns partieswas his protectionreally that good?...
Source: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a29130905/roy-cohn-documentary-wheres-my-roy-cohn/
Its conceivable Matt Gaetz got some learnin, too.
Link to tweet
UpInArms
(51,280 posts)knr
getagrip_already
(14,708 posts)that tfg was so friggin dumb, he refused the secure phone the ss wanted him to use so he could have his preciuous on a standard commercial phone.
Who could possibly want to listen in on the microphone of the potus? What could go wrong there.....
tanyev
(42,550 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)Yes, I've heard how NSO works and how their malware takes over the whole phone.
Yes, I've heard it was used against Khashoggi.
Your last sentence is just speculation.
Do you have more than speculation?
Kid Berwyn
(14,876 posts)Perhaps some authority with better investigative skills and subpoena power can take it further.
Old Okie
(142 posts)The information about the over the thousands of phones (one estimate 0f 40,000) targeted by this Israeli spyware is important and should get more coverage om MSM. Your phone can be hacked w/o you doing anything although it reportedly does require someone to be close to you to link to the phone. Sure Trump's phone was hacked by multiple countries. Mexico was one of their biggest clients.
No link but check Guardian or Democracy Now sites.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)While he weighs in on matters of no concern to him (like the Cleveland major league franchise changing its mascot), the former guy has been curiously silent about how secure the phone was on which he stabbed out his nasty little tweets with his stubby little thumbs.
SleeplessinSoCal
(9,110 posts)They aren't hiding it. But many who vote for them are clueless because between the lies and conspiracy theories, dont realize their leaders' bedfellows are our actual enemies. It also explains why the Republicans don't give a damn about infrastructure.
These reports help explain why the Olympics have lost their luster.
seta1950
(932 posts)Even governments shouldnt have this power, this company needs to be stopped, what is this the Soviet Union?
sarchasm
(1,012 posts)... In light of this, can we presume someone is working on counter measures?