A New Age of Warfare: How Internet Mercenaries Do Battle for Authoritarian Governments

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

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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