https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/us/politics/government-hackers-nso-darkmatter.html
By Mark Mazzetti, Adam Goldman, Ronen Bergman and Nicole Perlroth
The New York Times
March 21, 2019
The man in charge of Saudi Arabia's ruthless campaign to stifle dissent went
searching for ways to spy on people he saw as threats to the kingdom. He knew
where to go: a secretive Israeli company offering technology developed by
former intelligence operatives.
It was late 2017 and Saud al-Qahtani -- then a top adviser to Saudi Arabia’s
powerful crown prince -- was tracking Saudi dissidents around the world, part
of his extensive surveillance efforts that ultimately led to the killing of the
journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In messages exchanged with employees from the
company, NSO Group, Mr. al-Qahtani spoke of grand plans to use its surveillance
tools throughout the Middle East and Europe, like Turkey and Qatar or France
and Britain.
The Saudi government's reliance on a firm from Israel, an adversary for
decades, offers a glimpse of a new age of digital warfare governed by few rules
and of a growing economy, now valued at $12 billion, of spies for hire.
Today even the smallest countries can buy digital espionage services, enabling
them to conduct sophisticated operations like electronic eavesdropping or
influence campaigns that were once the preserve of major powers like the United
States and Russia. Corporations that want to scrutinize competitors' secrets,
or a wealthy individual with a beef against a rival, can also command
intelligence operations for a price, akin to purchasing off-the-shelf elements
of the National Security Agency or the Mossad.
[...]
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