Executive Summary:
- In the contemporary era of rapid technological advancement, international conflicts are no longer confined to traditional battlefields; they are increasingly conducted through digital means.
- The practices of espionage and intelligence collection have undergone a significant transformation, now increasingly operating within the cyber domain.
- The US intelligence community remains vigilant against countries like Israel, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea in their attempts to penetrate the networks and communications platforms of foreign governments and private companies.
- Consider contacting RMS International’s Intelligence Services at info@rmsiusa.com to develop a customized and resilient cyber security apparatus and bespoke, customized threat assessments to forecast risk and learn how to protect your organization, assets, personnel, operations and reputation.
Situation Report (SITREP):
In today’s ever changing and technologically advanced world, international battles are fought with bytes as well as bullets. In a similar fashion, espionage and intelligence collection has also gone digital. Intelligence officers in our modern world don’t wear sleek tuxedos and gadgets to exchange briefcases in back alleys, instead — they slip through firewalls, exploit zero-day vulnerabilities, and vanish without a trace. From state-sponsored hackers stealing defense secrets to corporate espionage siphoning intellectual property, cyber espionage has become one of the most pervasive and silent threats of the 21st century.
But like most intelligence work, cyber espionage is largely unseen and sometimes untraceable. If information is power, in the age of digital information, the second most valuable asset is what you don’t want others to know.
With limited information available and ever-changing methods of hacking and network penetration, much of the public information about cyber espionage comes from court records, filings, and the discovery process. Recently, the Niv, Shalev and Omri or NSO Group, a private sector cyber-intelligence firm based out of Israel was handed a $168 million penalty by a federal jury in California. The NSO Group was found guilty of hacking the servers of the Meta (formerly Facebook) owned WhatsApp communication platform on behalf of foreign intelligence agencies. The six-year long court battle has also shined a light on the secretive inner workings of the spyware industry.
Between 2018 and 2020 the Israeli spyware firm was responsible for breaking into thousands of devices, the sophisticated hacking job was extremely lucrative as NSO charged its European government customers a “standard price” of $7 million for use of its platform to hack 15 different devices at a time. The executive said the ability to hack a phone outside the customer’s country was a separate add-on worth approximately $1 million or $2 million. The United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collectively paid NSO $7.6 million.
The court filing seeks a permanent injunction against NSO, which it said “poses a significant threat of ongoing and prospective harm” to Meta, its platform, and its users.
Impact Analysis and Recommended Course of Action:
One of the most important pieces of information gleaned from the court records is that WhatsApp, an end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging platform is hackable, a strong contradiction to previous claims about encryption keys. While competing messaging apps claim to have more sophisticated E2EE technology, there will always be gaps and vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit. Combined with the exponential growth and power of artificial intelligence, threats posed by cyber espionage are only expected to continue. For intelligence agencies across the globe, strategies have evolved to include offensive cyber warfare as well as information security. Consider contacting RMS International’s Intelligence Services at info@rmsiusa.com to develop a customized and resilient cyber security apparatus and bespoke, customized threat assessments to forecast risk and learn how to protect your organization, assets, personnel, operations and reputation.
About RMS International:
Founded in 2012, RMS International provides ad hoc and contracted close protection, estate security, international travel management, corporate executive protection, personnel and asset security, and discreet investigative services. Operating a state-of-the-art Risk Operations Center in West Palm Beach, they provide 24/7 overwatch of global operations in Asia, Europe, Africa and throughout the Americas. RMS International delivers peace of mind in a chaotic world. Connect with us at RMSIUSA.com