An Israeli company has tried to influence more than 30 elections around the world for clients through hacking, sabotage and spreading misinformation, according to an undercover investigation conducted by European newspapers. Added to this is a growing body of evidence that shady private companies around the world are taking advantage of invasive hacking tools and the power of social media platforms to manipulate public opinion.
The company was dubbed Equipe Jorge by investigative journalists posing as potential clients to gather information about the company’s methods and capabilities. The boss, Tal Hanan, is a former Israeli special forces operative who boasted of an ability to monitor supposedly secure Telegram accounts and thousands of fake profiles on social networks, as well as spread news.
The research was conducted by a consortium of journalists from 30 titles, including the guardian in the United Kingdom, Le monde on France, The mirror in Germany and the country in Spain, led by the Forbidden Stories association, based in France. “The methods and techniques described by the Jorge Team pose new challenges for the major technology platforms,” wrote the guardian. “Evidence of a global private market in election disinformation will also ring alarm bells in democracies around the world.”
Hanan did not respond to detailed questions, saying only, “I deny any wrongdoing.” The 50-year-old told three undercover reporters that his services, often referred to in the industry as “black ops,” were available to intelligence agencies, political campaigns and private companies.
“We are now involved in an election in Africa. We have a team in Greece and a team in the Emirates… [Concluímos] 33 presidential-level campaigns, 27 of which were successful,” he said guardian. He also said that two-thirds of the campaigns took place in Africa.
While demonstrating its technology to journalists, it appeared to be hacking into the Gmail inboxes and Telegram accounts of political operatives in Kenya days before the presidential election. Forbidden Stories identified the targets as two aides to William Ruto, who eventually won the August 2022 poll.
fake profiles
Online public influence campaigns were conducted through a softwareAdvanced Impact Media Solutions, which reportedly managed nearly 40,000 social media profiles through Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, reports say.
Hanan also claimed that his company had posted a report on French news channel BFMTV about the impact of sanctions against Russia on Monaco’s yachting industry. A transmitter center, Rachid M’Barki, 54, was suspended and is under investigation.
In the wake of the revelations, Israel could face mounting pressure to rein in its technology cyber software advanced, which emerged in another media survey led by Forbidden Stories in 2021.
This investigation revealed how the powerful spyware Pegasus, made in Israel, had been sold to governments by the NSO Group Technologies company and used against at least 50,000 people around the world. Some of the alleged targets included human rights defenders and religious leaders, as well as politicians such as French President Emmanuel Macron.
Source: DN
