Pegasus is Just the Tip of the Israeli Cyber Spying Iceberg, with Whitney Webb

Investigative journalist Whitney Webb joins MIntCast to discuss Pegasus, Toka, and the global Israeli cyberspying network.

Mnar Adley
By Mnar Adley
Israel spyware Toka Podcast Feature

 Edward Snowden has called it “the story of the year.” An Israeli spying company has been caught selling software to authoritarian regimes that have used it to surveil more than 50,000 people worldwide. That company is NSO, founded in 2010 by former members of Unit 8200, the Israeli military’s notorious intelligence squad. Their product is

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Meet Toka, the Most Dangerous Israeli Spyware Firm You’ve Never Heard Of

The mainstream media’s myopic focus on Israel’s Pegasus spyware and the threats it poses means that other companies, like Toka, go uninvestigated,  even when their products present an even greater potential for abuse and illegal surveillance.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Israel spyware Toka Feature photo

LONDON - This past Sunday, an investigation into the global abuse of spyware developed by veterans of Israeli intelligence Unit 8200 gained widespread attention, as it was revealed that the software – sold to democratic and authoritarian governments alike – had been used to illegally spy on an estimated 50,000 individuals. Among those who had their

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Cellebrite: Israel’s Good Cyber Cop is Big Tech’s Backdoor to Breaching Your Privacy

Israeli digital forensics company Cellebrite has been quietly providing law enforcement agencies with the tools to retrieve data from any device for years, but they want you to know they’re on the right side of the law.

Raul Diego
By Raul Diego
Surveillance Encryption Feature photo

Privacy and security have long-been one of the top selling points for iOS devices in the interminable marketing fracas between Apple and its competitors, with fancy additions to their suite of protection features like fingerprint scanning and facial recognition. Android devices, by contrast, always seemed to lag behind in the personal encryption

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Snowden: Israeli Spyware Used By Governments to Pursue Journalists Targeted for Assassination

Snowden also noted that in addition to its role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the NSO Group’s most notorious software product was regularly used by the government of Mexico to target journalists.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
Journalists gather around a photo of slain photojournalist Ruben Espinosa, placed by his relatives at the entrance of Mexico City's Attorney General's office, on the second year anniversary of his murder in Mexico City, Monday, July 31, 2017. Espinosa worked for the investigative magazine Proceso and other media in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and murdered along with four women in an apartment in Mexico City on July 31, 2015. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

TEL AVIV -- NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden told an Israeli audience on Tuesday that surveillance software designed by an Israeli company had been used to target groups of journalists in Mexico as well as Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered last month in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Snowden, speaking to a Tel Aviv conference

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Investigation Into Mexican Government Surveillance With Israeli Software Hits Roadblock

An investigation into the use of software manufactured and sold to the Mexican government by the Israeli company NSO Group, has stalled following alleged interference by corrupt officials and a refusal to cooperate by the US.

Giovanna Salazar
By Giovanna Salazar
In this June 28, 2017 photo, a journalist makes a sign that reads in Spanish "Spy government" during a demonstration at the Sinaloa state attorney general's office against the killing of yet another journalist and demanding justice for the killing of Riodoce journalist Javier Valdez in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico. Recently it has been revealed that spyware sold exclusively to governments had been used to monitor journalists and activists in Mexico. (AP/Enric Marti)

Since at least 2013, there has been evidence that the Mexican government possesses sophisticated surveillance technology. But it was not until 2016, with the case dubbed #GobiernoEspía (#SpyGovernment), that Mexico found itself in an uproar over government surveillance at both the national and international levels. The case was made public in the

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Health Activists Targeted By Israeli Spyware Sold To Mexican Government

A report implicated software produced by Israel’s NSO Group. The Pegasus spyware gives hackers free reign to eavesdrop on calls, harvest messages, activate cameras and drain a phone’s trove of personal data.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
Israel NSO spyware

MEXICO CITY (REPORT) — An internet watchdog group said Saturday that a spyware hacking attempt targeted activists who campaigned against soft drinks and junk foods, and purportedly used Israeli-produced software sold to governments. The Citizen Lab based at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs said the attack targeted public

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