{"id":3972,"date":"2023-02-15T18:17:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T18:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londonpost.news\/?p=3972"},"modified":"2023-03-23T18:36:35","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T18:36:35","slug":"3972-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/news\/3972-2\/2023\/02\/15\/admin1\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli firm `boasted’ of “meddling” more than 30 elections globally"},"content":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM (AP) An<\/span> Israeli<\/span> firm<\/span> sought<\/span> to<\/span> influence<\/span> more<\/span> than<\/span> 30<\/span> elections<\/span> around<\/span> the<\/span> world<\/span> for<\/span> clients<\/span> by<\/span> hacking,<\/span> sabotage<\/span> and<\/span> spreading<\/span> disinformation,<\/span> according<\/span> to<\/span> an<\/span> undercover<\/span> media<\/span> investigation<\/span> published<\/span> Wednesday.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>It<\/span> adds<\/span> to<\/span> a<\/span> growing<\/span> body<\/span> of<\/span> evidence<\/span> that<\/span> shadowy<\/span> private<\/span> firms<\/span> across<\/span> the<\/span> world<\/span> are<\/span> profiting<\/span> from<\/span> invasive<\/span> hacking<\/span> tools<\/span> and<\/span> the<\/span> power<\/span> of<\/span> social<\/span> media<\/span> platforms<\/span> to<\/span> manipulate<\/span> public<\/span> opinion.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The<\/span> firm<\/span> was<\/span> dubbed<\/span> “Team<\/span> Jorge”<\/span> by<\/span> investigating<\/span> journalists<\/span> who<\/span> posed<\/span> as<\/span> potential<\/span> clients<\/span> in<\/span> order<\/span> to<\/span> gather<\/span> information<\/span> on<\/span> its<\/span> methods<\/span> and<\/span> capabilities.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Its<\/span> boss,<\/span> Tal<\/span> Hanan,<\/span> is<\/span> a<\/span> former<\/span> Israeli<\/span> special<\/span> forces<\/span> operative<\/span> who<\/span> boasted<\/span> of<\/span> being<\/span> able<\/span> to<\/span> control<\/span> supposedly<\/span> secure<\/span> Telegram<\/span> accounts<\/span> and<\/span> thousands<\/span> of<\/span> fake<\/span> social<\/span> media<\/span> profiles,<\/span> as<\/span> well<\/span> as<\/span> planting<\/span> news<\/span> stories,<\/span> the<\/span> reports<\/span> say.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The<\/span> investigation<\/span> was<\/span> carried<\/span> out<\/span> by<\/span> a<\/span> consortium<\/span> of<\/span> journalists<\/span> from<\/span> 30<\/span> outlets,<\/span> including<\/span> the<\/span> Guardian<\/span> in<\/span> Britain,<\/span> Le<\/span> Monde<\/span> in<\/span> France,<\/span> Der<\/span> Spiegel<\/span> in<\/span> Germany<\/span> and<\/span> El<\/span> Pais<\/span> in<\/span> Spain,<\/span> under<\/span> the<\/span> direction<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> France-based<\/span> non-profit<\/span> Forbidden<\/span> Stories.<\/span> “The<\/span> methods<\/span> and<\/span> techniques<\/span> described<\/span> by<\/span> Team<\/span> Jorge<\/span> pose<\/span> new<\/span> challenges<\/span> for<\/span> large-scale<\/span> technology<\/span> platforms,”<\/span> \u200b\u200bwrote<\/span> The<\/span> Guardian.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>“Evidence<\/span> of<\/span> a<\/span> global<\/span> private<\/span> market<\/span> for<\/span> election-targeted<\/span> disinformation<\/span> will<\/span> also<\/span> sound<\/span> alarm<\/span> bells<\/span> for<\/span> democracies<\/span> around<\/span> the<\/span> world.”<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Mr.<\/span> Hanan<\/span> did<\/span> not<\/span> answer<\/span> detailed<\/span> questions,<\/span> he<\/span> simply<\/span> replied:<\/span>
\n<\/span>“I<\/span> deny<\/span> any<\/span> wrongdoing.”<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The<\/span> 50-year-old<\/span> told<\/span> his<\/span> three<\/span> undercover<\/span> reporters<\/span> that<\/span> his<\/span> services<\/span> are<\/span> often<\/span> referred<\/span> to<\/span> in<\/span> the<\/span> industry<\/span> as<\/span> “black<\/span> ops”<\/span> and<\/span> are<\/span> available<\/span> to<\/span> intelligence<\/span> agencies,<\/span> political<\/span> campaigns<\/span> and<\/span> private<\/span> companies.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u201cWe<\/span> are<\/span> currently<\/span> involved<\/span> in<\/span> elections<\/span> in<\/span> Africa…we<\/span> have<\/span> a<\/span> team<\/span> in<\/span> Greece,<\/span> we<\/span> have<\/span> a<\/span> team<\/span> in<\/span> the<\/span> Emirates…[we]<\/span> have<\/span> completed<\/span> 33<\/span> presidential-level<\/span> election<\/span> campaigns<\/span> and<\/span> Of<\/span> those,<\/span> 27<\/span> were<\/span> successful,”<\/span> the<\/span> Guardian<\/span> quoted<\/span> him<\/span> as<\/span> saying.<\/span> He<\/span> claimed<\/span> that<\/span> most<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> campaign<\/span> (two-thirds)<\/span> took<\/span> place<\/span> in<\/span> Africa.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>While<\/span> demonstrating<\/span> his<\/span> technology<\/span> to<\/span> reporters,<\/span> he<\/span> appeared<\/span> to<\/span> hack<\/span> into<\/span> the<\/span> political<\/span> activist’s<\/span> Gmail<\/span> inbox<\/span> and<\/span> his<\/span> Telegram<\/span> account<\/span> days<\/span> before<\/span> Kenya’s<\/span> presidential<\/span> election.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Forbidden<\/span> Stories<\/span> named<\/span> Target<\/span> as<\/span> his<\/span> two<\/span> backers<\/span> to<\/span> William<\/span> Ruto,<\/span> who<\/span> ultimately<\/span> won<\/span> his<\/span> August<\/span> 2022<\/span> election.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The<\/span> online<\/span> poll<\/span> campaign<\/span> was<\/span> conducted<\/span> through<\/span> his<\/span> platform<\/span> of<\/span> software<\/span> called<\/span> Advanced<\/span> Impact<\/span> Media<\/span> Solutions,<\/span> which<\/span> allegedly<\/span> controlled<\/span> nearly<\/span> 40,000<\/span> of<\/span> his<\/span> social<\/span> media<\/span> profiles<\/span> on<\/span> Facebook,<\/span> Twitter<\/span> and<\/span> LinkedIn,<\/span> according<\/span> to<\/span> the<\/span> report.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Hannan<\/span> also<\/span> claimed<\/span> that<\/span> his<\/span> company<\/span> had<\/span> published<\/span> a<\/span> report<\/span> on<\/span> France’s<\/span> largest<\/span> television<\/span> news<\/span> channel,<\/span> BFM,<\/span> about<\/span> the<\/span> impact<\/span> of<\/span> sanctions<\/span> against<\/span> Russia<\/span> on<\/span> Monaco’s<\/span> yacht<\/span> industry.<\/span> Senior<\/span> Channel<\/span> Host<\/span> Rachid<\/span> M’Barki,<\/span> 54,<\/span> has<\/span> been<\/span> suspended<\/span> and<\/span> is<\/span> under<\/span> investigation.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>public<\/span> influence<\/span>
\n<\/span>In<\/span> recent<\/span> years,<\/span> other<\/span> similar<\/span> companies<\/span> have<\/span> been<\/span> named<\/span> in<\/span> media<\/span> reports<\/span> and<\/span> sanctioned<\/span> by<\/span> Western<\/span> governments<\/span> for<\/span> their<\/span> role<\/span> in<\/span> trying<\/span> to<\/span> influence<\/span> elections<\/span> and<\/span> public<\/span> opinion.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Since<\/span> its<\/span> closure,<\/span> notorious<\/span> British<\/span> consulting<\/span> firm<\/span> Cambridge<\/span> Analytica<\/span> was<\/span> allegedly<\/span> used<\/span> to<\/span> develop<\/span> software<\/span> to<\/span> direct<\/span> voters<\/span> to<\/span> Donald<\/span> Trump<\/span> in<\/span> the<\/span> 2016<\/span> US<\/span> presidential<\/span> election.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The<\/span> group<\/span> collected<\/span> and<\/span> misused<\/span> the<\/span> personal<\/span> information<\/span> of<\/span> his<\/span> 87<\/span> million<\/span> Facebook<\/span> users<\/span> that<\/span> the<\/span> platform<\/span> granted<\/span> access<\/span> to,<\/span> resulting<\/span> in<\/span> hefty<\/span> fines<\/span> and<\/span> lawsuits.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>On<\/span> Tuesday,<\/span> Evgeny<\/span> Prigozhin,<\/span> the<\/span> leader<\/span> of<\/span> Russia’s<\/span> Wagner<\/span> mercenary<\/span> group,<\/span> admitted<\/span> to<\/span> setting<\/span> up<\/span> a<\/span> notorious<\/span> vandal<\/span> farm.<\/span> The<\/span> Washington-Brussels-sanctioned<\/span> Internet<\/span> research<\/span> institute<\/span> based<\/span> in<\/span> St.<\/span> Petersburg<\/span> has<\/span> for<\/span> years<\/span> been<\/span> associated<\/span> with<\/span> Prigozhin,<\/span> a<\/span> 61-year-old<\/span> ally<\/span> of<\/span> Russian<\/span> President<\/span> Vladimir<\/span> Putin.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>It<\/span> highlighted<\/span> how<\/span> the<\/span> powerful<\/span> Israeli-made<\/span> Pegasus<\/span> spyware<\/span> was<\/span> sold<\/span> to<\/span> the<\/span> government<\/span> and<\/span> used<\/span> by<\/span> cyber<\/span> intelligence<\/span> firm<\/span> NSO<\/span> Group<\/span> Technologies.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM (AP) An Israeli firm sought to influence more than 30 elections around the world for clients by hacking, sabotage and spreading disinformation, according to an undercover media investigation published Wednesday. It adds to a growing body of evidence that shadowy private firms across the world are profiting from invasive hacking tools and the power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[779,2480],"tags":[1104,646,1098,1099,1100,1101,1102,1103],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/hackers.webp","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3972"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3975,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3972\/revisions\/3975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}