Israel Gives Blacklisted Spyware Companies The Go-Ahead To Help It Track Israeli Hostages
from the not-just-a-tool-of-oppression! dept
Decades of somewhat-restrained conflict between Israel and Palestine erupted into war again at the beginning of the month. Islamist militant group Hamas followed rocket strikes with a physical invasion, the latter of which included the massacre of hundreds of Israeli civilians. Israeli civilians were also tortured and mutilated.
Hamas also allegedly kidnapped around 200 Israelis, including 30 children. I say “allegedly” because that’s what Hamas claims, not because I don’t believe Hamas is willing and able to kidnap 200 Israelis.
This horrific string of events has resulted in the Israeli government cautiously welcoming a couple of its most notorious resident tech companies back into the fold… at least for now. Here are more details from Gwen Ackerman and Marissa Newman for Bloomberg:
Israel’s security services are pulling in spyware companies, including the maker of the controversial Pegasus software, to help track hostages in the Gaza Strip, people familiar with the matter said.
NSO Group and Candiru, both of which are blacklisted by the US, are being asked to quickly upgrade their spyware capabilities to meet needs laid out by the country’s security forces, according to four cybersecurity industry sources and an Israeli government official. They, together with several other software firms, are collaborating on the requests and largely offering their services for free, said the people, who asked not to be identified because of they weren’t authorized to comment on military operations.
The Commerce Department blacklist — which followed weeks of negative coverage stemming from the apparent leak of “targets” of NSO customers — led to the Israeli government finally placing limits on who its native malware tech firms could sell to. This reversed the longstanding partnership in which the Israeli government helped NSO and others secure contracts with a variety of known human rights abusers in the Middle East.
It was a severely dysfunctional form of diplomacy, one that blew up in NSO Group’s face. Israel’s government suffered some collateral damage, having assisted a bunch of its former employees (most spyware firms in Israel were formed by former Israeli intelligence operatives) in making the world a worse place for everyone. The leaked list showed a lot of NSO customers weren’t using its powerful Pegasus spyware to track down dangerous criminals and terrorists. Instead, they were using it to spy on critics, journalists, legal advocates, political opponents, and anyone else who might somehow inconvenience those in power.
The fallout led to the government creating some distance between itself and the companies it had indirectly helped to create and directly helped to succeed.
Though Israel has never publicly severed ties with NSO and Candiru, the Israel Defense Forces dismissed some of their employees from military reserve duty after the firms were sanctioned in the US for helping authoritarian regimes track journalists and dissidents.
That gap has been closed a bit in recent weeks. Candiru states that it is volunteering the use of its spyware to help locate and track Israeli captives. The same thing goes for NSO.
NSO has the advantage. It’s Pegasus spyware is a zero-click exploit, which means it only needs to be sent to the phones of kidnapped citizens. It doesn’t require any interaction from the recipient.
While this may be capable of locating phones, it won’t necessarily locate people. No one kidnapped by Hamas would be allowed to keep their phone. However, their captors are certainly in possession of their phones and, in many cases, already have access to their contents. As long as the phones are useful to Hamas, the use of this spyware will allow the government to track the captors. If the phones have been disposed of for exactly this reason — i.e., the possibility they may be converted Israeli government surveillance devices — this effort will go nowhere.
That doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying. And it presents a case study for actually useful, non-harmful deployments of powerful cell phone exploits. This is the sort of situation where citizens would welcome government intrusion, and that’s when governments should be prepared to do things like this.
Obviously, it’s not a great way to make money. Both companies appear to be providing their spyware for free. No local company would want to appear to be making a buck on their fellow citizens’ misery… at least not in cases like these. That they’re willing to help their own government engage in domestic surveillance for truly harmful reasons shows what they’re willing to do for a buck, but they can be altruistic when the situation calls for it.
It’s very possible malware like NSO’s Pegasus exploit has helped law enforcement locate kidnapped people before. Great! But that has been the exception, rather than the rule. And the companies pitching in here know you can’t make good money helping out worthy causes or refusing to sell to autocrats or pulling the plug on contracts the moment any questionable uses are discovered.
So, we have what we have here: a worthwhile use of powerful spyware that will always be an anomaly, no matter how often exploit supplies like this are investigated, curtailed, or blacklisted. Hurting powerless people will always be more profitable than helping them. NSO and its competitors will live on, supplying autocrats with tools to silence criticism and stifle dissent. Because that’s where the money actually is.
Filed Under: commerce department, israel, palestine, pegasus, spyware, surveillance
Companies: candiru, nso group
Comments on “Israel Gives Blacklisted Spyware Companies The Go-Ahead To Help It Track Israeli Hostages”
So what exactly is the point of this article? Genuine question. It reads like “spyware is bad, but it’s being used for good this time, but it’s still bad.”
Like…yeah? Of course it is. If there is a deeper perspective being offered here I don’t see it.
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I think it’s trying to say that spyware is inherently bad even though it’s being used for a good purpose in this case with saving hostages from some bunch of terrorists. This article seems to really be more about the spyware companies than the spyware itself and it seems to be about the fact that they are incentivized to harm people because that’s “where the money is”. The fact they are doing something good in the case of saving hostages don’t change anything about the nature of their business nor the need to see them put out of the business of harming people though spyware for profits.
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Alright, that’s fair. Thanks.
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Except that’s obviously bullshit.
All sorts of things that would be awful civil violations are perfectly acceptable in a wartime context. Like, 4th amendment doesn’t apply to enemy encryption, duh.
So if you think this kinda spyware is so bad its not even OK to use it to save hostages from an enemy terrorist state you’re not only an idiot, but probably an antisemite, too.
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For someone who constantly and consistently whines about this website hating Trump and Musk, you sure seem to hate this website and its authors.
Suggesting that Tim Cushing is an antisemite for pointing out that companies using their spyware for good deeds for once does not change what they normally do is a new low for you. And that’s fucking saying something.
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Also, it’s absurd to think that Tim Cushing is an anti-Semite because his boss, Mike Masnick, is Jewish.
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It’s already ridiculous to call reasonable criticism of the NSO Group antiSemitic.
Especially in light of overwhelming evidence that NSO’s malware has been used to track journalists and political opponents.
ie, it is safe to assume that the Israeli government will use this to silence dissent.
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IIRC, the Israel govt’s already been outed for doing precisely that. I knew some peace activists in Israel some years back. I hope their current silence is due to perfectly ordinary retirement and not due to becoming targets of the Israeli equivalent of the MIC.
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I doubt corporations ever consider the ethical ramifications of their business.
Is this thing we make money off of going to used for good or evil? This is simply not something they even think about much less debate. The top brass probably was unaware of the usage.
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Technology is neither inherently good nor evil. It’s how it’s used. Like the death ray.
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Good.
Hopefully next the Israeli state can harness the best of their nation’s industry to liquidate the disgusting terrorist kidnappers.
The author is becoming a caricature.
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That’s really easy to say when you’re thousands of miles away and aren’t one of the people who will have to carry out the extremely risky task of actually eliminating the perpetrators, or one of the people who will be displaced/orphaned/maimed/killed in the process. Bloodthirsty demands for violence are the reason this cycle keeps repeating. Maybe shut up unless you have something productive to add.
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Hamas and its co-belligerents should release all hostages and surrender unconditionally.
That would save everyone from having to liquidate them (the Arab terrorists).
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The US can start with a formal apology to Iran for what happened in 1953 first.
What would be the point?
If the phones are on, then they can already be easily tracked. If they’re off, then the spyware offers nothing.
So what exactly is the point, other than laundering the reputations of these evil companies?
Please follow up, Tim.
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Turning on cameras and microphones.
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OK, so you're an antisemite.
Whatever yTime for you to never write anything ever again, buddy. our beef with Israel this isn’t the time.
It’s literally war. Whatever your objection t this kinda software in in civil use, this is the one time using it is always OK. All your previous objections that might’ve been legitimate before are void now, in this particular circumstance.
Re: OK, so you're an idiot
Highlighting the problematic uses of a technology is not evidence of antisemitism in any way. WTF is wrong with you?
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He’s highlighting that it’s being used to find hostages and kill terrorists in a war so yeah, it really really is, actually.
WTF is wrong with you?
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Well, Matthew…
You’re right about one thing.
There IS a war going on, and no, it’s not the latest Israeli excuse to march back into Gaza. Or the one happening in Ukraine.
It’s the war for democracy everywhere, and your side has the upper hand, because while the rest of us are trying to play by the rules, your side is gleefully breaking them with wild abandon, because you all think that there’ll be no repurcussions as long as you put us all in unmarked graves first, or launch a nuke at the White House or something.
Your side has already EXPORTED your sick, genocidal ideology to other places. Your side has already forced violence into the conversation.
It’s no wonder you also approve of this sort of malware.
I’d ask you to not use the Israelis as a shield but it’s way too late for that.
Just remember, when we’re dead and rotting, you’re next. Fascism always needs an enemy, and like in the Speaker bullshit, fascists always turn on themselves.
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A baby being cooked in the over while the mom watches is an “excuse”.
Boom, found the terrorist.
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Just as a reminder to EVERYONE watching…
I denounce Hamas conducting what appears to be a POGROM against Israelis, I denounce the IDF marching into Gaza to “wage war”, as well as Israeli policy in Gaza and the Middle East SINCE at least 1947, American foreign policy in the area during the Cold War, Saudi meddling, Iranian funding of terrorism, AMERICAN funding of terorism, European colonialism, AND Russian AND Chinese interests in the region.
If anyone is baking any babies, please fucking stop. Babies do NOT belong in ovens.
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“Whatever yTime for you to never write anything ever again, buddy. our beef with Israel this isn’t the time.”
Ok Buddy … lmao – how stupid.
also – wth is yTime?
Re: WTF?!?!?
Mike Masnick is Jewish and you think Tim Cushing is anti-Semitic?
Put down that pipe, friend…
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You having a stroke or are you just too smart for proofreading?
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So you didn’t have anything useful to say, should’ve just said that.
How effective are these tools when the IDF goes and shuts down the internet and cell towers?
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Super effective when your Stingrays have no towers with which to compete. Or when your towers are essentially Stingrays, but you can eliminate any actual communication service without actually turning off the cells. Whatever, it’s cool.