It was discovered that a large-scale hacking campaign targeting thousands of environmental activists and others had been carried out since 2017, but who hired it remains a mystery



Abiram Azari , an Israeli-born private investigator who was arrested in 2019, has organized a large-scale hacking campaign targeting thousands of US-based environmental activists and government officials since around 2017. It is said that Azari has not disclosed his clients, but ExxonMobil is suspected of being involved in the hacking campaign by Azari and others because it targeted an environmental activist group critical of oil major ExxonMobil. It is

Exxon's Climate Opponents Were Infiltrated by Massive Hacking-for-Hire Operation - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/massive-hacking-for-hire-operation-infiltrated-exxons-climate-opponents-prosecutors-say-8ccfdba



Man Behind Hack-for-Hire Campaign That Targeted Environmental Activists Is Keeping His Mouth Shut
https://gizmodo.com/aviram-azari-hack-exxon-activists-protecting-clients-1850278300

Since around 2017, Israeli-born Azali has allegedly launched an illegal hacking campaign targeting US-based environmental activists, financial firms, lawyers, government officials and businessmen. Among them, Azari is said to have acted as an 'intermediary' between employers and hackers, and was arrested in the United States in 2019 on charges of wire fraud, identity theft, and hacking.

According to US prosecutors, Azari's hacking campaign used ' spear phishing ' techniques to send fake messages to obtain personal information and gain access to personal accounts. The number of victims is believed to be in the thousands.

Azari, who was arrested in 2019, initially claimed innocence, but in April 2022 he turned around and pleaded guilty. However, Azari has not yet disclosed the client who hired him.

Targets of the hacking campaign by Azari and others included the Rockefeller Foundation 's fund, which appeals for environmental conservation. The fund claimed that ``ExxonMobil has been doing energy business despite predicting global warming for more than 40 years,'' and criticized ExxonMobil on the topic ``#exxonknew.'' suspected ExxonMobil's involvement in this hacking campaign.

Quantitative evaluation again proves that oil major Exxon Mobil has accurately predicted global warming for over 40 years - GIGAZINE



Lee Wasserman, head of the Rockefeller Foundation, said, ``It is believed that Azari was not acting alone, but was campaigning under American corporate officials.'' I would like to clarify the client who hired Mr.

Wasserman also points out that 'ExxonMobil and its supporters may have hacked the person who was holding #exxonknew to escape accountability for environmental issues.'




An ExxonMobil spokesperson said, ``We at ExxonMobil have no knowledge of Azari, nor have we been involved in any hacking campaigns, and the company has never been accused of environmental misconduct.'' , has consistently denied any involvement in the hacking campaign.

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in Science,   Security, Posted by log1r_ut