An undercover investigation reveals the evil deeds of Israel's hacking team, which claims to have manipulated elections around the world more than 30 times
An undercover investigation by reporters has revealed the actual state of an Israeli company that has manipulated more than 30 elections around the world by hacking, sabotaging, and disseminating false information on social media.
Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections | Technology |
A 50-year-old ex-Israeli Special Forces officer, Tal Hanan, who now operates under the pseudonym 'George,' has been identified, according to a joint investigation by more than 30 companies, including Le Monde and Der Spiegel. It is said that information work was carried out in Africa, Central and South America, Europe, etc. by the team led by him.
'Our service, called Black Ops, can be used by intelligence agencies, political movements and private companies who want to covertly manipulate public opinion,' Hannan told a reporter who contacted the team posing as an intelligence consultant. He said. One of Team Giorgi's main services is a software package called 'Advanced Impact Media Solutions (Aims)', which has thousands of registered users on services such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram and YouTube. It seems that the account can be operated.
In a meeting secretly recorded for more than 6 hours, Mr. Hanan and others talked about how to collect information about the organization's rivals, including showing off hacking techniques to access Gmail and Telegram accounts. Specifically, he reportedly sent information to legitimate news outlets and spread it with Aims, and sent ``sex toys'' to politicians' wives via Amazon in order to suspect politicians of cheating. matter.
As a result of a follow-up survey of accounts related to Aims by The Guardian, traces of activity were confirmed in about 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Germany. In response to the investigation report, Meta, which operates Facebook, has removed the fake account from the platform.
In addition, it has been found that Mr. Hanan and others carried out part of the information manipulation through Demoman International, an Israeli private company. The company is listed on a defense industry export promotion website run by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and The Guardian did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the relationship. .
Mr. Hanan told reporters, 'I am currently involved in elections in Africa. I have been active 33 times in national affairs at the presidential election level, and 27 of them have been successful.' It seems that he actually hacked and showed it. Mr. Hanan showed that it is possible to manipulate information by sending messages to others from politicians' accounts, but at that time he said that he failed in the process of 'deleting the sent message'. In this regard, Mr. Hanan's hack was proven to be true, as a reporter who contacted the person who sent the message later confirmed that the message was actually received.
Team Giorgi told reporters that it accepts payments for the service in a variety of currencies, including cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and cash. In a preliminary investigation, it was known that 160,000 dollars (about 21 million yen) was charged for activities in a country in Central and South America, but this time, journalists who requested activities in Africa were charged 6 million euros. (About 860 million yen) to 15 million euros (about 2.15 billion yen) It seems that he was hit by a high amount.
After the reality of Team Georges was reported, Mr. Hanan answered ``I deny any wrongdoing'' without answering detailed questions about the team's activities and methods.
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