Israel To Probe If Notorious Spyware Used Illicitly at Home (bloomberg.com) 14
Israel will investigate allegations that police illicitly used homegrown spyware that's gained notoriety abroad against its own citizens. From a report: The government will form a committee to look into a series of reports by Calcalist, a Hebrew business daily, that law enforcement officials used NSO Group's Pegasus software without a court order to tap into the phones of citizens both prominent and obscure, including a key prosecution witness in former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial. Others allegedly targeted include an anti-Netanyahu protester, the former Israeli leader's son, high-ranking officials, and the heads of some of the country's biggest companies. Israeli officials, including the minister in charge of police, initially denied any impropriety. But the police later backtracked, citing "additional findings," and on Monday, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev ordered the investigation. "The reports about Pegasus, if they are true, are very serious," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement on Monday. "This tool (Pegasus) and similar tools, are important tools in the fight against terrorism and severe crime, but they were not intended to be used in phishing campaigns targeting the Israeli public or officials -- which is why we need to understand exactly what happened."
Similar to arms dealing logic (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Similar to arms dealing logic (Score:2)
Re: Similar to arms dealing logic (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple does not care about the security of its users. It cares about giving the appearance of being concerned for the security of their users. This stuff here is not relevant enough for the latter.
Re: (Score:2)
Greedy fundamentally evil (indifferent evil, not active evil) people have been using this excuse forever.
Comment removed (Score:3)
They don't like it up 'em ? (Score:5, Insightful)
So the Israeli Government doesn't like spyware being used indiscriminately against its own citizens? Maybe other countries' Governments and citizens don't like it either ?
Who would have thought that.
Yet that same Government finds it quite acceptable for their military-industrial program to produce companies that make such spyware and sell it to anyone who offers them a lot of money? They thought it couldn't possibly happen to them?
They're not that special.
( bonus points if you recognise the quote in the subject )
Wouldn't you just assume it was? (Score:2)
I guess I would assume that either Mossad or Shin Bet conduct extensive surveillance that covers wide swaths of the Israeli public as a function of counterintelligence and counterterrorism.
Some of this seems likely to be just a function of small geography and proximity to hostile neighbors. It's one thing for US intelligence to more or less ignore Kansas or Nebraska given their homogenous populations and distance from any conflict zones. But I'd wager half the Israeli population lives within a small dista
Of course it has been used at home ... (Score:5, Insightful)
the investigation will either find: a) that it has not been use against Israeli citizens, Calcalist is pushing fake news; or b) that it was used by "rogue individuals" who have been punished and this will never happen again (pinky promise).
call the adl (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Always relevant (Score:4, Funny)
That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.
Works well... (Score:2)
.... for "phishing campaigns targeting the (Israeli) public or officials" though and hence it gets used. Now, if police that does this would end up unemployed and in prison, things would be different. But that rarely ever happens. So they do it.