<
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/02/27/yet-another-former-israeli-intelligence-officer-linked-to-yet-another-shady-company-offering-hacking-tools/>
"I’m not sure what’s happening inside Israel’s intelligence services, but it’s
not sending the world its best when it’s done with them.
For months, we’ve been covering tons of negative news generated by tech
companies started up by former Israeli government employees. Most of this has
been focused on NSO Group, a malware merchant with tons of malicious customers
whose phone-targeting, amped-up stalkerware has been linked to misuse by human
rights violators around the world. It has also been linked to misuse by
countries that generally try to keep their human rights violations in check.
The same can be said for Candiru, another Israeli startup featuring former
government operatives. Like NSO Group, Candiru’s inability to be more selective
about who it sells to has netted it sanctions from the US government.
Then there’s Cytrox, another spyware company formed by former Israeli
intelligence agencies. This company is at the center of a domestic surveillance
debacle in Greece, one that has led to the resignation of the head of the
country’s intelligence service.
While it’s true these companies can’t necessarily control the use of the
products and services they sell, it seems like more than a coincidence that all
of these companies were founded by former intelligence operatives. This
suggests there’s something a bit off about the intelligence mindset in Israel.
Operatives tasked with defending a nation that’s always in a state of conflict
are rolling back into the private sector with plenty of ideas but little in the
way of morals and ethics.
It cannot be a coincidence that customers routinely abuse the powerful products
these obviously very intelligent people create. Some of that can be chalked up
to the normal government desire to abuse power. But I would think some of this
has to be traced back to the sales pitches and customer cultivation tactics
deployed by these companies — something that perhaps pushes government
customers into exploring some extremely gray areas in the surveillance arena.
These companies may have some form of plausible deniability since it’s their
customers doing the actual abusing. The same can’t be said from another Israeli
tech firm founded by a former Israeli special forces officer — one recently
exposed by
The Guardian in a blockbuster article that details the company’s
CIA-esque kingmaking efforts."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
