Collaborate Disseminate
Bad actors used a ransomware attack to target the Israeli offices of the customer engagement and digital intelligence company Verint. On 17 April, ZDNet received a screenshot taken by an employee who works at one of Verint’s Israeli offices. The … Continue reading Ransomware Attack Targeted Data Intelligence Firm Verint
The companies that make advanced surveillance software are quiet by design. They generate enough press to let the market (i.e., governments) know their products exist, but it’s not as if there’s an app store for mobile spyware. They do make mistakes, though. And thanks to two researchers from Lookout, the public now has more information on how these companies operate. In the course of investigating a new kind of Android-focused mobile malware, Lookout’s Andrew Blaich and Michael Flossman uncovered text conversations among members of a nation-state’s surveillance program. Those files, which were stored on a server that was part of the malware’s command-and-control infrastructure, represented a trove of insight about how much money the particular government budgeted for its program, whether its spies decided to buy exploits or build their own, and why it’s easier than ever for countries to leverage surveillance technology. It started when Blaich and Flossman were analyzing how a single malware sample had manipulated data within the popular […]
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Israel has a reputation for being home to some of the most capable offensive hacking firms on the planet. These shadowy companies sell wares to governments all over the world, and the market grows more and more competitive every year. Case in point: The launch of a new Israeli firm called WiSpear, which is sparking a new rivalry in the lucrative business of Wi-Fi interception. This tech is used by police, intelligence and military agencies, which pay hackers to break into the networks of chosen targets. WiSpear, launched in 2016 by a former commander in the Special Operations Unit of the Intelligence Corps in the Israeli Defense Force, sells the “SpearHead Wi-Fi Man-in-the-middle platform, ” promising to intercept a targeted Wi-Fi signal — and then steal data like social media passwords and other communications — at “the longest interception ranges” and with a design that can “integrate with any infection system.” The kilometers-long range is […]
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At a glance, the private hacking and surveillance industry is rich and getting richer. Yet that industry boom doesn’t mean every company is raking in millions. Amid the high demand for surveillance tech, there is a multimillion-dollar Israeli firm whose future is very much in doubt. Ability Inc. is staring at a mountain of business and legal challenges. The 23-year-old company is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly lying about products and finances. It’s also facing an investor lawsuit for many of the same allegations, was nearly delisted from NASDAQ and has watched nearly a dozen board members resign in the last year. At the heart of the lawsuits are allegations that Ability lied for years about the company’s ability to develop, sell and deploy its flagship product. The tool, which is spyware designed to eavesdrop on any mobile phone, was not developed by Ability nor does the company […]
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