Meta Manager Was Hacked With Spyware and Wiretapped in Greece (nytimes.com) 28
A U.S. and Greek national who worked on Meta's security and trust team while based in Greece was placed under a yearlong wiretap by the Greek national intelligence service and hacked with a powerful cyberespionage tool, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and officials with knowledge of the case. From the report: The disclosure is the first known case of an American citizen being targeted in a European Union country by the advanced snooping technology, the use of which has been the subject of a widening scandal in Greece. It demonstrates that the illicit use of spyware is spreading beyond use by authoritarian governments against opposition figures and journalists, and has begun to creep into European democracies, even ensnaring a foreign national working for a major global corporation.
The simultaneous tapping of the target's phone by the national intelligence service and the way she was hacked indicate that the spy service and whoever implanted the spyware, known as Predator, were working hand in hand. The latest case comes as elections approach in Greece, which has been rocked by a mounting wiretapping and illegal spyware scandal since last year, raising accusations that the government has abused the powers of its spy agency for illicit purposes. The Predator spyware that infected the device is marketed by an Athens-based company and has been exported from Greece with the government's blessing, in possible breach of European Union laws that consider such products potential weapons, The New York Times found in December. The Greek government has denied using Predator and has legislated against the use of spyware, which it has called "illegal."
The simultaneous tapping of the target's phone by the national intelligence service and the way she was hacked indicate that the spy service and whoever implanted the spyware, known as Predator, were working hand in hand. The latest case comes as elections approach in Greece, which has been rocked by a mounting wiretapping and illegal spyware scandal since last year, raising accusations that the government has abused the powers of its spy agency for illicit purposes. The Predator spyware that infected the device is marketed by an Athens-based company and has been exported from Greece with the government's blessing, in possible breach of European Union laws that consider such products potential weapons, The New York Times found in December. The Greek government has denied using Predator and has legislated against the use of spyware, which it has called "illegal."
Meta get a taste of own medicine? (Score:5, Funny)
Since Meta only exists to snoop on everyone they shouldn't be surprised if they get snooped themselves.
Hey, he should know how it works (Score:1)
After all, he's working for a company that does the same. At least the EU didn't sell that guy's private secrets to the highest bidder but instead kept it for themselves.
Re:Hey, he should know how it works (Score:5, Insightful)
Democracy in Greece has always been kind of tenuous, and they were a fairly brutal dictatorship until 1974.
They've had a couple of military coups since WWII. Maybe they're due for another one?
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Democracy in Greece has always been kind of tenuous
Beside the current status of Greece Democracy, about which you are probably correct, don't forget that they invented it, circa 500BC :)
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The Greeks actually developed a republic at that time again, but the Great Powers of Europe had no intention of letting that stand and imposed a German on them as king.
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After all, he's working for a company that does the same. At least the EU didn't sell that guy's private secrets to the highest bidder but instead kept it for themselves.
I'm pretty certain she's a she.
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Doesn't change anything.
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Doesn't change anything.
Just making sure the poster got his pronouns correct. 8^)
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"Hi, my name is Opportunist and I identify as a person who doesn't give a fuck about your pronouns"
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"Hi, my name is Opportunist and I identify as a person who doesn't give a fuck about your pronouns"
I identify as the queen of Whackistan - please address me as Your Majesty.
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If you insist, I'll call you Your Royal Heinie, but that's the best you can expect.
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If you insist, I'll call you Your Royal Heinie, but that's the best you can expect.
Yah, that works.
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We reached agreement [youtube.com].
We are all compromosed (Score:2)
The widespread nature of hacks and compromises that none of us are immune. If they don't have my data directly, they can probably piece enough of it together with what they do have to have me Compromised.
Until we start catching these people (unlikely) the situation isn't going to get any better,
What raises my eyebrows is how long it took (Score:4, Interesting)
until they figured it out.
One year? A whole year? Day after day, they used it without ever going through a security audit, without a secondary device? "Well, george, how often do YOU audit your devices?" I'm not a diplomat. I do not handle sensitive information. IF I were, I would be hesitant to use any sort of smartphone.
This whole deal stinks to high heaven. The simplest explanation is that the greek government is embarassingly incompetent and got exposed doing what all countries do to each other, whether they admit or not.
Another thing... is _this_ the most sophisticated method of wiretapping available to intelligence agencies and other "high level" entities?
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Uh. Where does it say she's a diplomat? I think you misread the article.
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I never said she's a diplomat.
I said if _I_ were a diplomat, in the sense that I was a VIP of some sort.
Re: What raises my eyebrows is how long it took (Score:3)
is _this_ the most sophisticated method of wiretapping available to intelligence agencies
Have we all forgotten how GCHQ, aided by NSA, pwned BICS, operating backbone routers that connect much of EU's ISPs, SWIFT (Intl banking system), NATO HQ, and tapped the Commision and much of EU governments?
That was a whole different scale. Targeting trusted countries that are officially allies err sheeple.
Irony (Score:5, Funny)
A trojan horse in Greece. History really does repeat! :)
She's to blame for poor security hygiene (Score:2, Interesting)
She clicked a random link sent that rooted her phone. I get tons of that shit on my work phone. You don't do that. She should've known better.
Meta's client security group is top notch but they can't defend against dumb users.
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Re:She's to blame for poor security hygiene (Score:5, Informative)
The link was not random, it came from a legitimate source after a request that she initiated (she asked for the vaccine) and she had no other option than clicking it to confirm like everyone else in the country. She had no reason to assume the site was compromised, no way to detect that the problem, since the site was virtually identical and provided the expected functionality.
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Interesting information, but it seems like a person should do things like that on their personal phone and not their work phone? Especially if they work in security.
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Why NOT spy on a foreign business? (Score:2)
Meta exists to gather marketable intel so why trust it?
Trust is silly. Spy and know what the enemy is doing.