Saudi Arabia used Israel spyware against dissident
Saudi Arabia used Israeli technology to spy on a Saudi dissident in Canada, a report has claimed.
According to a report by Canada-based research group Citizen Lab, Saudi
Arabia used Israeli software to eavesdrop on 27-year-old Saudi dissident
Omar Abdulaziz. Citizen Lab claims “the aim was to access the iPhone of
Abdulaziz, who […] has been a prominent critic of the Saudi government
on social media,” Haaretz reported.
Speaking to Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, Citizen Lab’s
Director Ron Deibert explained that “any such use of eavesdropping
technology by a foreign government would constitute illegal
wiretapping.”
The software in question – Pegasus – belongs to Israeli company NSO
Group which specialises in cyber intelligence. Pegasus “can be used to
remotely infect a target’s cellphone in order to then relay back data
accessed by the device,” the Globe and Mail explains. It adds that: “The
Citizen Lab studied the NSO Group by attempting to reverse-engineer the
specific Internet pathways that its software uses. It was through these
efforts that the Citizen Lab said it noticed an iPhone in Canada in
contact with the surveillance infrastructure that the group associated
with Saudi Arabia.”
This is not the first time that Citizen Lab has found Pegasus software
to be used by governments that do not formally recognise Israel. In
September, a Citizen Lab report observed a “significant expansion of
Pegasus usage in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the
Middle East,” in particular the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and
Saudi Arabia. Citizen Lab added that in August 2016, Emirati human
rights activist Ahmed Mansoor was targeted with the Pegasus spyware.
The same technology was also used to target human rights group Amnesty
International in June. Amnesty explained how “a hacker tried to break
into an unidentified staff member’s smartphone in early June by baiting
the employee with a WhatsApp message about a protest in front of the
Saudi Embassy in Washington.” Amnesty added “it [had] traced the
malicious link in the message to a network of sites tied to the NSO
Group,” a claim confirmed by Citizen Lab’s September report.
The Saudi dissident in question, Omar Abdulaziz, in August claimed that
Saudi authorities had threatened to arrest his family if he did not stop
writing about the Kingdom’s conflict with Canada. Abdulaziz wrote on
Twitter: “Breaking: The Saudi authorities threatened to arrest my
brothers and friends if I keep tweeting about the Saudi-Canadian
crisis!” Abdulaziz has resided in Canada since 2009, when he obtained a
scholarship to study English. However, after becoming increasingly
critical of the Saudi government and its human rights record, Abdulaziz
applied for and was granted political asylum in Canada.
The hacking of Omar Abdulaziz’s phone, believed to have been conducted
between June and August, will do nothing to alleviate the ongoing
diplomatic spat between Saudi Arabia and Canada. The row broke out after
the Canadian embassy in Riyadh called on Saudi Arabia to immediately
release human rights activists detained in the Kingdom. In retaliation,
Saudi Arabia accused Canada of interfering in its internal affairs,
recalled its ambassador from Ottawa and expelled the Canadian ambassador
from Riyadh. Saudi Arabia also froze new trade and investment in
Canada, but stressed that its oil supplies to the north American country
would not be impacted.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his country’s position,
refusing to apologise to Saudi Arabia. The spat is yet to be resolved,
though last week Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said she
hoped to meet her Saudi counterpart, Adel Al-Jubeir, on the sidelines of
the UN General Assembly meetings. Freeland noted: “Canada is extending
an olive branch to Saudi Arabia to avoid a prolonged diplomatic crisis
that affected Canadian companies and Saudi students in Canadian
universities.”
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/41620
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
No comments