No 10 Suspected of Being Target of NSO Spyware Attack, Boris Johnson 'Told' (theguardian.com) 23
Boris Johnson has been told his Downing Street office has been targeted with "multiple" suspected infections using Pegasus, the sophisticated hacking software that can turn a phone into a remote listening device, it was claimed on Monday. The Guardian reports: A report released by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said the United Arab Emirates was suspected of orchestrating spyware attacks on No 10 in 2020 and 2021. Pegasus is the hacking software -- or spyware -- developed, marketed and licensed to governments around the world by the Israeli firm NSO Group. It has the capability to infect phones running either iOS or Android operating systems. Citizen Lab added there had also been suspected attacks on the Foreign Office over the same two years that were also associated with Pegasus operators linked to the UAE -- as well as India, Cyprus and Jordan.
The researchers, considered among the world's leading experts in detecting digital attacks, announced they had taken the rare step of notifying Whitehall of the attack as it "believes that our actions can reduce harm." However, they were not able to identify the specific individuals within No 10 and the Foreign Office who are suspected of having been hacked. "The suspected infections relating to the FCO were associated with Pegasus operators that we link to the UAE, India, Cyprus and Jordan. The suspected infection at the UK prime minister's office was associated with a Pegasus operator we link to the UAE."
The researchers, considered among the world's leading experts in detecting digital attacks, announced they had taken the rare step of notifying Whitehall of the attack as it "believes that our actions can reduce harm." However, they were not able to identify the specific individuals within No 10 and the Foreign Office who are suspected of having been hacked. "The suspected infections relating to the FCO were associated with Pegasus operators that we link to the UAE, India, Cyprus and Jordan. The suspected infection at the UK prime minister's office was associated with a Pegasus operator we link to the UAE."
My phone ... (Score:2, Funny)
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It's nowhere near the largest thing in my pants.
Yeah, those ipads barely fit in one's pocket. (Score:2)
Still waiting for the iPad ultra mini.
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Re: My phone ... (Score:3)
Those are much easier to tap. You don't even need to make physical contact with the wire to very clearly hear conversations. Not sure if you recall during the landline era when you could occasionally vaguely make out other voices talking on the line. That's crosstalk. It happens anyways even though the carriers tried to mitigate it. Now imagine if you made an effort to receive it instead of dampen it. You can get probing tools for that anywhere, they're totally legal to own everywhere too.
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It's easier to tap conversations on the analog phone while in use. It's much more difficult to tap an old-fashioned land line phone to monitor in-room conversations while it is on-hook. Which is what the NSO software does to cellular devices.
Re: My phone ... (Score:2)
Depends on how the handset is built, and whether it is functioning correctly. The old mechanical ones would be harder. Newer ones made in the 80s or later, depends. The line always has an active electrical carrier signal, with the only significant changes occurring when a ring comes in, you pick up, or you hang up. Technically there's nothing really stopping the microphone from working at any time.
They don't need Pegasus (Score:1)
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Meanwhile your partner was searching for Balalaika's to try to understand what you meant and facebook learned this information to sell you products
The good news is (Score:5, Funny)
they weren't able to collect any intelligence at all from intercepting Boris's communications.
One rule for ALL, nobody safe, even PM's (Score:2)
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I wonder if they have government off-the-books WhatsApp messages? Some relating to lawbreaking during the pandemic (dodgy PPE contracts, attending illegal parties etc.) seem to have been "accidentally" destroyed or lost.
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they weren't able to collect any intelligence at all from intercepting Boris's communications.
An entirely credible & feasible scenario. I hope the civil servants around him work hard to keep his grubby hands away from sensitive material & the levers of power as much as possible. He'd sell Downing Street's silverware at a pawnshop if he thought he could get away with it.
More generally, most politicians simply don't have the self-discipline or are too full of hubris to follow effective SIGINT sanitary protocols. They'll insist on carrying on using whatever insecure comms apps that they're us
Boris Johnson 'Told' (Score:2)
Yes, he has to be told everything.
Even that the dancing and drinking in his own basement for his birthday with a disk-jockey, wine- and vodka-coolers is actually a 'PARTY' and not a work-event.
Re:Boris Johnson 'Told' (Score:4, Interesting)
He's been a dishonest chancer since he was at Eton. The fact that a major political party would even allow such a man to run as an MP, let alone become PM, demonstrates just how far democracy has eroded.
Companies like NSO should not exist above ground (Score:2)
The reason governments allow companies like NSO to exist overtly in their countries is that the companies swear:
* They will only deal with "legitimate" government or law enforcement
* They won't work against their own country or citizens without oversight
Neither of these is true of NSO [wikipedia.org]:
According to several reports, NSO Group spyware has been used to target human rights activists and journalists in various countries,[12][13][14] was used for state espionage against Pakistan,[15] for warrantless domestic surve
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