PARIS: An Israeli firm sought to influence over 30 elections around the world for clients by hacking, sabotage and spreading disinformation, according to an undercover media investigation published Wednesday. It adds to a growing body of evidence that private firms across the world are profiting from invasive hacking tools and the power of social media platforms to shape public opinion.
The firm was dubbed “Team Jorge” by investigating journalists who posed as potential clients. The report said its boss, Tal Hanan, is a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who boasted of being able to control supposedly secure Telegram accounts, thousands of fake social media accounts, and of planting news stories.
The investigation was carried out by a consortium of journalists from 30 outlets, including Le Monde in France, Der Spiegel in Germany and El Pais in Spain, under the direction of a France-based non-profit known as Forbidden Stories. “The methods and techniques described by Team Jorge raise new challenges for big tech platforms,” Guardian wrote.
Hanan did not respond to questions, saying: “I deny any wrongdoing”. He told three undercover reporters that his services were available to intelligence agencies, political campaigns and private companies.
“We are now involved in one election in Africa… We have a team in Greece and (the) Emirates… (We have completed) 33 presidential-level campaigns, 27 of which were successful,” Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying.
British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica – since shut down – was allegedly used to develop software steering voters towards Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential polls. The group collected and exploited the personal data of 87 million Facebook users to which the platform had given it access, leading to major fines and lawsuits. A probe by Forbidden Stories in 2021 said Israeli-made Pegasus spyware had been sold by the cyber intelligence company, NSO Group, to governments and used against at least 50,000 people around the world. AFP
The firm was dubbed “Team Jorge” by investigating journalists who posed as potential clients. The report said its boss, Tal Hanan, is a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who boasted of being able to control supposedly secure Telegram accounts, thousands of fake social media accounts, and of planting news stories.
The investigation was carried out by a consortium of journalists from 30 outlets, including Le Monde in France, Der Spiegel in Germany and El Pais in Spain, under the direction of a France-based non-profit known as Forbidden Stories. “The methods and techniques described by Team Jorge raise new challenges for big tech platforms,” Guardian wrote.
Hanan did not respond to questions, saying: “I deny any wrongdoing”. He told three undercover reporters that his services were available to intelligence agencies, political campaigns and private companies.
“We are now involved in one election in Africa… We have a team in Greece and (the) Emirates… (We have completed) 33 presidential-level campaigns, 27 of which were successful,” Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying.
British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica – since shut down – was allegedly used to develop software steering voters towards Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential polls. The group collected and exploited the personal data of 87 million Facebook users to which the platform had given it access, leading to major fines and lawsuits. A probe by Forbidden Stories in 2021 said Israeli-made Pegasus spyware had been sold by the cyber intelligence company, NSO Group, to governments and used against at least 50,000 people around the world. AFP
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