It’s well known the the leading spyware package bought by repressive regimes, intelligence agencies, and corporate malefactors is Pegasus, which was created by the Israeli hacking company, NSO Group. Its development has allowed NSO to thrive financially and become an attractive target for major corporate interests. Apparently, companies like Blackstone Group and Verint are drawn to the revenue potential of the product, but willing to ignore the major moral conflicts that it engenders; at least until NGOs like Access Now intervene to warm them of the moral hazard.
Now, we must factor in a new and alarming element to this moral calculus. Until now, Pegasus has been used to monitor the communications of targeted individuals who are identified by its users as troublesome or threatening to various regimes. Its use has been confirmed by Citizen Lab in numerous countries, most notably in Mexico according to a multi-part investigative series published by the New York Times. But as far as we know (and the secrecy with which Pegasus is employed don’t permit us to know fully how it’s used), the product has never been instrumental in potentially harming or killing its targets. Until now.
Saudi use of Pegasus against its critics and “enemies”
The Washington Post reports today that Canadian-Saudi dissident, Omar Abdelaziz, provided ten hours of recorded negotiations he conducted with two Saudi agents who confirmed implicitly that government agents had hacked him cell phone and knew about projects he had devised with murdered Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. Citizen Lab further confirmed that they used Pegasus to do so. The agents pursued the same strategy with Abdelaziz as against Khashoggi. They offered him money. They offered him advancement and reunion with family. They even offered him a new passport, suggesting he travel to the Saudi embassy in Washington to pick it up (where have we heard that before?).
With Pegasus, the Saudis were able to know virtually everything Abdelaziz did: where he traveled, what he wrote, who he spoke to and e-mailed. They monitored every keystroke, saw much of what he saw, and heard everything he said. They knew where he was at every moment of the day and night. If he had agreed to go to the embassy they would have known where he was, when he would arrive: everything necessary to kidnap him or worse.
Though it’s not known whether Saudi intelligence used Pegasus to target the murdered dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, Access Now’s Peter Micek wrote this to me:
I am not aware of any attempts regarding Khashoggi himself. However, I think there is evidence it was used to track his circles, and likely scooped info on him. It’s chilling and reason for the companies to be questioned.
Nor is Abdelaziz a lone target. Citizen Lab’s research has pinpointed numerous countries which the Saudis have targeted. There may be dissidents and governments it is tracking not just for intelligence or information, but to do potential physical harm.
All this points not just to the danger of Pegasus as a tool in the hands of dictators and thugs, but to its potential to be a lethal tool of state-sponsored murder. Someone may object: yes, but it’s never been used that way yet. Indeed, that’s true. But that’s only because no target or victim whose communications are so compromised has yet been tricked into the trap Khashoggi fell into. Had Abdelaziz agreed to come to Washington, I have no doubt that Pegasus would have been an invaluable tool in implementing whatever plan MBS had for him. Further, given what we know about Khashoggi’s gruesome murder, Abdelaziz’s fate might not have been much different.
International regulatory agencies and governments must agree to protocols governing the use of such powerful and dangerous tools. If not, people will die. People whose lives make the world a better place. People who the wealthy and powerful would just as soon see silenced or worse.
Of course Israel, where NSO is based, could regulate Pegasus’ use. Theoretically it does. There is a defense ministry agency which regulates export of Israeli weapons and technology. It could place limits or otherwise monitor NSO’s commercial relationships. But Israel is not in the business of monitoring or restricting its export market. It is in the business of promoting and expanding it. Nor are moral or ethical considerations part of Israel’s policy calculus. Companies exporting such goods are barely monitored for bribery and other corrupt practices in foreign countries, practices which are rife.
So Israel is not the address to which anyone should look for regulating a dangerous product like Pegasus. Nor will NSO monitor uses of its own product. It lamely claims that once it sells Pegasus to a client, responsibility for how it is used rests solely on the user. That, of course, is a terrific moral dodge. Further, NSO claims it does have a corporate code in place regarding use of the spyware. They direct that it is to be used solely in legal activities for fighting crime and terrorism. Of course, one person’s human rights activist is another person’s ‘terrorist.’ Not to mention that in a country like Saudi Arabia, there is no proper concept of rule of law. So how do you say use of your product is governed by the client country’s laws, when there are virtually none?
Silverstein has published Tikun Olam since 2003, It exposes the secrets of the Israeli national security state. He lives in Seattle, but his heart is in the east. He publishes regularly at Middle East Eye and Jacobin Magazine. His work has also appeared in Al Jazeera English, The Nation, Truthout and other outlets.
Do the Israelis make anything that does good? Is it ever newsworthy? Nice hook though. Khashogi’s in the news. And Israeli made sofware was used to track a friend of his. Now THAT’S newsworthy. And fits the agenda.
@ Neil:
I’ll leave promotion of Brand Israel to people like you. I’m more focussed on the evil that Israeli exports do like supplying hundreds of millions in military and electronic hardware to the world’s most genocidal regimes.
” I’m more focussed on the evil that Israeli exports do”
Exactly: specifically the evil AND specifically Israel. You sometimes mention the wrongs of Arab regimes – but ONLY when their culpability can be linked to Israel or the United States, never otherwise.
And when Israel does something good you either try to find fault (seizing on whatever fragment of purported evidence you can find) or choose to ignore it.
Yet you call your blog Tikun Olam (repair the WORLD) which implies a broader agenda than your content actually covers.
@ Neil Douglas: Listen bud, I don’t answer to you. I don’t explain or defend myself to you. I don’t have to be nice to Israel because you think I should or because we have to be fair or whatever other claptrap you want to trot out. I don’t have to, nor will I justify the name of this blog.
I do what I do. I write what a I write. Don’t like it? Go elsewhere. YOu are done in this thread.
I understand perfectly. May I quote you in full (from this thread) without risk of being sued for copyright infringement?
@Neil: When you post an attempt at snark which you think is funny or witty or cutting, it isn”t. Keep to substantive, on-topic comments.
I am serious. As you do not wish to let me continue on this thread, I intend to put my case on my own blog. But to be fair to you, I would rather quote you in full than paraphrase. (I don’t mean the whole article: just your responses to me on this thread.) However I can’t quote you in full. without the looming threat of copyright in infringement hanging over me.
So it’s your call. May I quote? Or must I paraphrase?
@ Neil: You’re an idiot. And you can quote me on that. You don’t know anything about copyright law. Why don’t you study up on that for a few months and then after you’ve misunderstood that completely, you can start your blog where you can misunderstand everything else you write about.
And you’re not even the first idiot who started a blog because he was pissed at me. In fact, I think you’re the third. This gives me a creepy kind of pride. It’s like a child you raise and then send into the world to make their mark and serve as your legacy…and piss on it. Long may you thrive…before falling into the ashheap of the internet.
Oh and here’s another statement you can quote: I don’t give fuck what you do.
Since you ignored my directive not to post again in the thread, you are moderated. If your future comments continue to disrespect the comment rules you’ll be banned.
And let’s see if the fake Taiwanese guy comes in here to object……
As for NSO Group and Pegasus, they should be disbanded and the software deleted, but the cat is out of the bag because Pegasus has been unleashed in so many countries’ servers.
Israel and Saudi Arabia deserve each other; one’s a gun-nut military culture run by corrupt sleazebags, the other a kleptocracy run by morally-deficient psychos who use the cover of a monarchy. Both are backed by a republic going to seed from corporate money and the constant lobbying of “defense” contractors. In the long run nothing will end well unless the conditions on the ground change, which will either see Israel going bye-bye, a revolution in Saudi Arabia to clear out the religious-petrochemical crime family that runs it, or the US finally being sanctioned by the world for its colonial behavior.
Richard’s next door neighbour, Boeing Industries, has a 20 billion dollar deal with the Kingdom’s military. https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2018/04/13/boeing-establishes-joint-venture-with-saudi-arabian-military-industries-for-aircraft-maintenance/
Yet Richard doesn’t criticise his Seattle neighbor, Boeing, he criticises Israel vis-a vis a small Israeli software firm called NSO.
I wonder whether Boeing hardware is being used in KSA’s war in Yemen? Lots of death.
Charity begins at home, and so should dissent.
Tell me why I’m wrong?
@ Li Hung Very Lo: Criticize Boeing? Boeing isn’t the problem. Is Elbit or any Israeli arms-maker “the problem?” I think not. They’re symptoms, not causes. The problem is the militaristic society upon which these companies feed. The goal is to change the aggressive polices on which their greed thrives. Deliver a new government devoted to solving economic problems and solving conflict peacefully, at least here in the U.S. You lot in Israel (and Taiwan) are hopeless. That’s why I favor sanctions against Israel, both military and otherwise. I favor the same against Saudi Arabia. So cancel the Boeing contract and all other boondoggles with the Saudi butchers. At least until they replace the head-chopper with a more polite version of a tyrant.
I don’t know why you hasbara-bots believe I’m a fan of the U.S. military-industrial complex. You don’t understand that unlike your own country, we have a balanced economy which produces export products other than weapons. And if we cut that production in half and only supplied countries which were democratic, it would not put a major dent in our economy…unlike what would happen if your country did the same.
You’re always wrong and should know that without my telling you.
Oh and btw, only a portion of Boeing business is done in the Seattle area and that grows smaller as time goes on. I doubt very much that military aircraft would be serviced here. I know civilian aircraft are serviced. But I doubt military aircraft are. But hey, you didn’t know that either, didya?
“That’s why I favor sanctions against Israel, both military and otherwise. I favor the same against Saudi Arabia”
Than you should favour sanctions against China as well. Their human rights abuse makes the Saudis and Israel pale, tossing millions of Muslims into reeducation camps. The Chinese even have their own Kashoggi affair!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/13/liu-xiaobo-nobel-laureate-chinese-political-prisoner-dies-61
Richard. Do you support a boycotts, divestment and sanctions against China?
If so, you can begin by throwing out your Chinese made smart phone, your kids toys and your plastic comb and brushes. But you won’t do that. You are a happy warrior against Israel, and Israel exclusively. If tens of millions of Chinese suffer under that dictatorship, than so be it. If the planet burns up in twelve years, so be it. In the meantime, you’re going to get your pound of flesh from Israel.
@ Li Hangs Lo:
Excuse me? I don’t have to do anything you think I should nor believe anything you think I should. I don’t owe you explanations.
And cut the whataboutism shit out. It’s a tried and false hasbara trick. Subject is Israel here bud. Don’t like it? Need a dose of China Watching? Go elsewhere. What I do is Israel and related subjects.
BTW, I’m not Chinese and not Uighur. So I write about what means most to me. Not what doesn’t. If Uighurs are what is closest to you, be my guest. Knock youself out. Write a blog on it. Find a blog that covers the subject. But don’t bullshit us about what we should do or say or believe (other than Israel). It’s stale and old.
Try this ploy again and you’ll be teetering on the brink of banning.
Surprised you haven’t banned him.
[Comment deleted: @Neil or Tom or tinky or who ever the hell you claim to be this time: not only were you moderated as “Neil,” but you’ve violated a cardinal comment rule: if you have a handle, do NOT invent another. Multiple identities is completely unacceptable. You are now banned (in all the identities I know).]
Why don’t YOU start a blog urging such a boycott? YOU are ‘Chinese’ aren’t you? Richard on the other hand is Jewish, so why shouldn’t he concentrate on Israel?
[comment deleted: see “Tom Holloway” comment]