Omer Benjakob Profile picture
Disinfo/cyber reporter @Haaretz @haaretzcom 📰 #TeamJorge #ProjectPegasus ■ Wikipedialogist ■ Covering knowledge in age of disinfo ■ Research fellow @lpiParis_
Sep 14, 2023 22 tweets 8 min read
🚨SCOOP: My new @Haaretzcom investigation reveals new Israeli cyber companies developed technology that exploits the heart of the online economy - ads - not just for mass surveillance, but also to hack phones 👇

haaretz.com/israel-news/20… 🚨This is surveillance capitalism at its finest! The world of "digital arms" has evolved, moving into the realm of ad-based intelligence (AdInt). This is how this next-gen digital weapon leaked into the private cyber arms sector >>

haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
May 22, 2023 4 tweets 3 min read
SCOOP with @DrWhax

- Israel killed Morocco's access to Pegasus - but also failed to okay its deal with QuaDream

- Leaked code reveals their spyware and show it may have abused WhatsApp

- Sources: Firm also developed “terrifying” new spyware

haaretz.com/israel-news/se… Pieces of QuaDream’s code, which was leaked by an employee, likely by mistake, revealed Reign, but also Blue Spear – a previously unknown program that seems to serve as the web interface through which the targeted devices are likley infected / @DrWhax

haaretz.com/israel-news/se… Image
Feb 15, 2023 23 tweets 19 min read
At the center of their service is AIMS. A never-before-seen software for creating not bots - but avatars. Complex digital personas that seem real and operate across platforms. AIMS has almost 40k
haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo The fake accounts are grouped and AIMS' avatar management dashboard boasts: “African, Arabian, Armenian, Brazilian, Canada, European (mix), Philippines, Russia, Senegal, South America, Ukraine, USA and Zimbabwe.”
#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…
Feb 15, 2023 13 tweets 11 min read
SCOOP: We went undercover & discovered a secret disinformation-for-hire group called Team Jorge selling election interference, hack-and-leak & influence as a service. They claim to have meddled in 33 elections THREAD #TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo haaretz.com/israel-news/se… tldr; Team Jorge are a 1-stop-shop of influence & psyops

Their business model: disinformation-as-a-service, or DaaS.

Their software: AIMS, an advanced system for creating and deploying fake accounts without detection

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo
haaretz.com/israel-news/se…
Dec 23, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
SCOOP Meet Toka, an Israeli camera hacking firm set up by former PM Ehud Barak and the IDF’s ex-cyber chief. It sells only to intel bodies and law enforcement and allows them to “access” and “alter” camera feeds
haaretz.com/israel-news/se… Toka is under Israeli ministry of defense oversight - its clients are mostly US and it’s allies in the west, but also includes Israel and likely Singapore Revealed: The Israeli Firm Selling ‘Dystopian’ Hacking Capabilities - National Security & Cyber
haaretz.com/israel-news/se…
Nov 30, 2022 8 tweets 6 min read
Sometimes all it takes is one selfie on a private jet by a single employee to launch a cross-border investigation into the dark side of the digital arms market @avischarf @LHreports @cr0ft0n @daniel_howden @e_triantafillou @telloglou >> haaretz.com/israel-news/se… Together w Lighthouse Reports & Inside Story we analysed/cross-referenced hundreds of flight records, linking the plane to key locations, and combed dozens of passenger lists, corporate filings, employment records & secret/open data sources
haaretz.com/israel-news/se…
Aug 22, 2022 12 tweets 5 min read
A short thread on Pegasus, the Israeli occupation and how we define terror in wake of this AMAZING Guardian scoop about the CIA calling BS on Israel's claim that Palestinian rights orgs are terror groups- a claim based on intel collected by hacking phones
theguardian.com/world/2022/aug… Last October, Israel's then defense minister blacklisted six Palestinian orgs. The move caused an outcry among rights groups across the world. But Israel was adamant these were NOT rights groups but terror groups haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
Aug 4, 2022 9 tweets 8 min read
SCOOP We got our hands on screen shots of an early prototype of Pegasus, called Syaphan and intended for use by the Israeli police

These photos are the closest we’ve gotten to seeing real working Pegasus system THREAD

@JoshBreiner @haaretzcom haaretz.com/israel-news/20… These are screen shots of the program and the police planned to present them to the government. They showcase the spyware program’s capabilities

@JoshBreiner @haaretzcom haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
Apr 12, 2022 6 tweets 4 min read
Report says Israeli spyware was used in Trinidad and Tobago to spy on lawmakers, journalists and judges.

However, it may not be NSO but a different Israeli spyware – one recently found on the phone of a Greek journalist >> THREAD haaretz.com/israel-news/te… My sources suggest that the spyware that may have been purchased by the Caribbean state is called #Predator and it is created by a different Israeli spyware firm called #Cytrox haaretz.com/israel-news/te…
Mar 23, 2021 14 tweets 8 min read
THREAD >> How Netanyahu and his proxies imported Trump's "Stop the Steal to Israel" using every trick in the book

From the first election and up until this week, right wing accounts and Netanyahu's proxies incited against the supreme court justices heading Israel's central election committee >>
haaretz.com/israel-news/el… Image