This is the story of a secret contract with “an Israeli hacking company with a sulphurous reputation”, NSO, here “gave the US government access to one of its most formidable weapons: a geo-tracking tool capable of secretly tracking cell phones around the world.”
The contract was concluded on November 8, 2021. However, add The New York Times, “just five days prior, the Biden administration announced a move targeting NSO, whose hacking tools have been misused by governments around the world to spy on political dissidents, human rights activists and journalists. The White House had thus placed NSO on a blacklist from the Ministry of Commerce”, indicates the log.
The New York Times had already revealed last year that in 2019 the FBI (police and internal intelligence) had bought access “to NSO’s most formidable hacking tool, known as Pegasus”. As in 2021, a small company providing services to various federal agencies, Riva Networks, served as the cover, being referred to as “Cleopatra Holdings”.
Signed under pseudonym
The November 2021 contract was signed by the Riva boss, under a pseudonym, according to the newspaper’s sources. It specifies that “The United States government will have access to NSO’s flagship geolocation tool, called Landmark”. A tool that has been used in particular to monitor Saudi dissidents.
Depending on the contract, mobile numbers in the United States may be targeted, “even if there is no proof that it happened”. However, according to sources, “there have been thousands of requests in at least one country, Mexico”.
This contract “seems still in effect”, and yet the White House said it was unaware of its existence. For the newspaper, this paradox illustrates the conflicts created by cyberweapons, even within state apparatuses. If Western leaders say they want to limit access to these surveillance tools, “their abilities attract intelligence services, armies and police bodies”, including in democracies.
