Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
@jsrailton
Feb 15, 2023 • 11 tweets • 10 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
WHOA: Team of Israeli ex-spies boast of manipulating 33 elections w/ #hacking & #bots.

Tricked into demoing #telegram hacking & bot army to undercover investigators.

By @skirchy @manisha_bot @davidtpegg @carolecadwalla & @burke_jason
theguardian.com/world/2023/feb… ImageImageImageImage
2/ “After you’ve created credibility, what do you do? Then you can manipulate"

Good to see @Meta take action on these accounts.

Honestly though we are at the absolute tip of the iceberg. ImageImage
3/ Here he is demoing access to the #Gmail of a purported key political insider in #Kenya just days before the election.

This tech & tactics is kerosene on the flames of democracy. Image
4/ “I know in some countries they believe #Telegram is safe. I will show you how safe it is”

Yikes.

Unclear how he is gaining access to these #Gmail & Telegram accounts, but the talk of #SS7 is a good hint.

And yet another reminder: SMS is not a safe second factor. ImageImage
5/ Great to see mercenary election manipulators exposed. Solid journalism.

Trust me, this is a window into a *much bigger industry* active in elections around the world.

So rare to see it caught.
6/ The fact that so much political activity happens on a handful of platforms makes the tooling for political manipulation really interoperable.

Also radically lowers barriers to entry.

Making mercenary election manipulation scaleable & easy to export. Image
7/ Of course, we don't know whether these guys have successfully changed the outcome of any election.

The guy here is also pretty clearly boasting & trying to sell.

But the mere fact of mercenary election manipulators running around is damaging, even when they don't win.
8/ Even if mercenary election manipulators don't successfully throw an election (e.g. successfully shift mass sentiment), bots, hacking & turbocharged dirty tricks can distort political culture.

Opposing parties have to adjust.

And the net result is harm to democracy.
9/ UPDATE: @haaretzcom reports the mercenary political manipulators targeted 🇺🇸US politicians.

Like @GavinNewsom in #California

Topic: #diablocanyon nuclear plant

Were taxpayer funds routed to #TeamJorge for that op?

STORY haaretz.com/israel-news/se… ImageImageImageImage
10/ Powerful coda to this remarkable story
11/ Really remarkable undercover work went into this story.

Huge credit to @omerbenj @GurMegiddo & @FredMetzo for pulling off such a feat.

These are paranoid people confessing to illegal things, it cannot have been easy.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with John Scott-Railton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jsrailton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Feb 6
BREAKING: #Paragon reportedly terminates spyware contract with #Italy.

Right on heels of reported targeting of journalist & activists in Italy.

BIG DEAL: puts Italian government in the hot seat, since they denied knowing about it only hours ago.👇
Image
2/ Read this slowly.

The implication is clear: the Italian government was a #Paragon customer & had their contract terminated...

Even as @GiorgiaMeloni's office was issuing denials.

Likely to make the scandal worse.

Exceptional reporting from The Guardian
theguardian.com/technology/202…Image
Image
3/ Big picture:

#Paragon's carefully constructed image of being a clean mercenary spyware company that wasn't susceptible to abuses has been replaced by a more familiar tale of...

Abuses...

And #Italy is now saddled with an unfolding crisis around spyware abuse.
Read 7 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Feb 1
NEW: @WhatsApp says Israeli mercenary spyware company #Paragon targeted scores of users around world.

The infection happened with no interaction. No link to click or attachment to open.

This is called a "zero-click" attack.

WA says targets included journalists & members of civil society.

They dismantled the attack vector & notified users.

Good.

We at @citizenlab shared some info instrumental to their investigation of the vector.

This is a BIG deal. Here's why 1/Image
Image
Image
Image
2/ For a few years the only source of information about #Paragon... has been Paragon.

They marketed themselves as the anti-NSO.

(NSO makes the notorious #Pegasus spyware)

It's easier to frame yourself as virtuous in the spyware game if nobody can look over your shoulder.

By @iblametom
forbes.com/sites/thomasbr…

By @RonanFarrow
newyorker.com/magazine/2022/…Image
Image
Image
Image
3/ Late last year, partly on the strength of their promised virtue #Paragon seemed closer than ever to landing the industrys juiciest of prices.

Market access into the USA.

This is the goal of a lot of spyware companies & their investors...

At the time, there simply were no pesky reports on Paragon that showed anything might be other than rosy.

Story @criticalvas
wired.com/story/ice-para…Image
Read 12 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Jan 23
NEW: US seeks extradition of Israeli private spy over sprawling hacking against 🇺🇸American nonprofits.

Amit Forlit's alleged customer? US lobbying firm @DCIGroup... representing @exxonmobil

Extradition filings in UK give fresh peek into this wild case 1/Image
Image
Image
Image
2/ The case was triggered back in 2018, when US-based nonprofits targeted by hackers requested that @citizenlab notify the authorities.

In 2020, we went public with the investigation, alongside @jc_stubbs @razhael & @Bing_Chris 👇

3/ Fast forward to today's efforts to extradite Amit Forlit, who was arrested at Heathrow last year.

He's actually the second Israeli private investigator charged in this massive hacking scheme targeting Americans.

The first, Aviram Azari, was arrested in 2019, convicted & is serving out his sentence.

justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/i…Image
Image
Image
Read 7 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 23, 2024
The volume of scam phone calls targeting elderly people in the US is insane.

Anyone that has visited an aging person knows what I'm talking about.

Ring after ring.

Several calls a day isn't out of the ordinary each of them a risk of wiping out their savings.

It's an untenable situation and will only get worse without focused government action.
Phone predators constantly target your parents.

Foreign scam call centers are running on an industrial scale.

Efforts phone companies are making are obviously not up to the task.

Just ask any retired person you know when they last got a scam call.
The constant phone scamming of elderly Americans is like an opportunistic infection.

It is a symptom showing that the US phone system's defenses against foreign abuses are diminished.

With increasingly clever AI/ deepfake voices & automation, the problem is set to get worse.
Read 4 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 23, 2024
VPN advertising is the most common source of security misinformation that I encounter.

By far.

So many people misplace their trust in dubious consumer VPN products.

The industry is a scourge.
VPNs don't do most of the things that podcasters imply they do.

Security:
Coffee shop attacks on unencrypted logins are a thing of a decade ago.

VPNs won't stop even the dumbest spyware & phishing.

Privacy:
Advertisers still know it's you when you turn on a VPN... they use many other identifying signals from your device, like your browser & advertising IDs. Those don't change when you turn on a VPN.
Trust:
A lot of VPN companies are shady.... and the industry is consolidating fast around some questionable players with concerning histories.

When you turn on a VPN you entrust all of your data to those companies.
Read 7 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 21, 2024
BREAKING: NSO Group liable for #Pegasus hacking of @WhatsApp users.

Big win for spyware victims.

Big loss for NSO.

Bad time to be a spyware company.

Landmark case. Huge implications. 1/ 🧵Image
Image
Image
Image
2/ In 2019, 1,400 @WhatsApp users were targeted with #Pegasus.

WhatsApp did the right thing & sued NSO Group.

NSO has spent 5 years trying to claim that they are above the law.

And engaged in all sorts of maneuvering.

With this order, the music stopped and NSO is now without a chair.Image
Image
3/ Today, the court decided that enough was enough with NSO's gambits & efforts to hide source code.

Judge Hamilton granted @WhatsApp's motion for summary judgement against the #Pegasus spyware maker.

The judge finds NSO's hacking violated the federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (#CFAA), California state anti-fraud law #CDFA, and was a breach of contract.

What happens next? The trial proceeds only on the issue of resolving damages stemming from NSO's hacking.

Order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…Image
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(