Unmasking Israel's Cyber Arms Industry Is Just the Beginning - Haaretz Today - Haaretz.com
A Haaretz-TheMarker investigation in which two reporters toiled for nine months uncovering a black ops group known as "Team Jorge" has made headlines worldwide this week.
Omer Benjakob and Gur Megiddo led the way on “The Israeli Agents of Chaos” – part of the Story Killers project initiated by an NGO dedicated to following up on the work of murdered or threatened journalists.
Using false identities (and working together with a reporter from Radio France), the two journalists met with and recorded the clandestine Israeli company, which offered a disturbing arsenal of highly sophisticated digital tools – including cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns – to interfere in democratic elections across the globe.
They also uncovered an Israeli “disinformation factory” that, among other tactics, activates an army of avatars – fake online personae who can amplify manufactured lies and smears – on behalf of clients.
The deeply troubling nature of these activities comes on the heels of revelations of companies like NSO Group and Cellebrite, which develop, manufacture and sell phone-hacking and other cyberweaponry to spy on dissidents and rivals.
As the stories pile up, staining Israel’s name internationally, a nagging question lingers. What can be done to stop the growth of this dark corner of arms development? Or, if it can’t be stopped completely, at least regulated and controlled by the government?
The proprietors of Team Jorge denied any wrongdoing, with one of them proclaiming: “I have been working all my life according to the law!” In fact, though, many of their activities clearly breach the law, Megiddo says.
“Hacking is clearly and strictly illegal. Yes, you can legally sell hacking tools to foreign governments, which can be used in the framework of those countries’ laws. But under Israeli law now, you can’t sell the service of hacking.”
The exposure of some of the tools in the Haaretz investigation, Megiddo believes, raises concerns about the inability of the law to keep up with technology.
“The armies of avatars and bots raise a set of new questions. Theoretically, you can apply the current penal law to these avatars and say ‘Yes, it’s criminal,’ and arrest the people. But it’s not clear enough because using false identities on social media, on a smaller scale, is such common practice.
“If someone is selling mass creation of identities that can be weaponized, that should not be legal,” he says. “You’re fooling hundreds of thousands of people with false news sites, reporters that don’t exist, creating a false reality. There needs to be legislation in place that expressly forbids this. It’s not free speech: it’s just a very sophisticated type of fraud on a mass scale.”
Read more about the dark side of Israel's tech world:
- From an Israeli office building, a nameless company is disrupting the world
- Israeli spy tech sold to Bangladesh, despite dismal human rights record
- Hacks, disinformation and cyberattacks: Team Jorge's global operation
- The 'Israeli hackers' in the Cambridge Analytica scandal were unknown. Until now
Don’t miss today’s best reads on Haaretz.com
Gur Meggido and Omer Benjakob shed light on what happens inside an Israeli factory for online deception
Amos Harel breaks down why the imminent clash between Smotrich and Gallant is predictable and unbridgeable
Gideon Levy claims Israel closed its eyes to the disgraceful death of Harun Abu Aram
Amira Hass describes how in Jenin, even helping the wounded means risking your life
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