Reuters unveils docs exposing Israeli tracks in Myanmar 2021 coup

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
16 Jan 2023 12:40
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Reuters reports that Myanmar's telecom firm awarded Israeli cyber company Cognyte a spyware contract that allows the government's invasive monitoring of citizens.

The headquarters of the Israeli spyware company Cognyte near "Tel Aviv"

Israeli fingerprints were found in the Myanmar 2021 military coup according to new documents acquired by Reuters, the news agency reported on Monday.

Shortly before the coup, Israeli Cognyte Software Ltd (CGNT.O) won a tender to provide the state-owned telecommunications company with advanced spyware that enables the government to monitor network users and intercept their activity.

A complaint presented by Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack to the Israeli attorney general said the deal was carried out despite an Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2017 that bans arms sales to Myanmar's junta.

The complaint was disclosed on Sunday, the report noted.

The spyware can be used to track down users without the help of telecom and internet companies, break into their devices, pull encrypted data, and even eavesdrop on their calls.

The Israeli government repeatedly publicly claimed military and technology exports to Mynamar were stopped, however, the new documents reveal otherwise.

Mack called on the supreme court in the legal filing to open a criminal investigation into the spyware deal, accusing officials in the security and foreign ministries, in addition to Cognyte, of "aiding and abetting crimes against humanity in Myanmar."

Reuters released documents revealing the PO issued by Myanmar's telecom company to tender winner Israeli Cognyte on December 30, 2020.

The complaint was signed by over 60 Israelis, "including a former speaker of the house, as well as prominent activists, academics and writers," Reuters reported.

According to the report, an activist group called Justice for Myanmar provided the tender documents to the news agency and Mack.

The documents reveal that Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) issued a letter on January 2021 to reward Cognyte with the contract for the spyware technology.

The purchase order note was issued "by 30th Dec 2020."

Sources told Reuters that the system was tested by the state telecom company MPT.

Myanmar's state-owned telecom company listing Israeli Cognyte as tender winner

This is not the first time the Israeli spyware company comes under fire for enabling malicious activities.

In 2021, Facebook banned Cognyte from the platform after detecting suspicious activity by the spyware's users.

Facebook's parent company Meta stated in a report that Cognyte "enables managing fake accounts across social media platforms."

According to the US tech giant, its investigations found that the cyber firm had clients in several countries such as Mexico, Indonesia, and Kenya, who targeted journalists and politicians among others.

In addition to Facebook, the Government Pension Fund of Norway (GPFG) removed Cognyte from its portfolio.

The cyber provider sold its spyware to states that "have been accused of extremely serious human rights violations."

"Myanmar's junta is using invasive telecoms spyware without legal safeguards to protect human rights," a Reuters report added, citing industry specialists and activists.

Israeli law also requires companies exporting similar products to seek licenses for export and marketing when doing deals.

Norway's Telenor, a telecom company that operated previously in Mynamar and was considered one of the biggest mobile network operators in the Asian country, stated on December 3, 2020, that it had concerns that the Myanmar government is planning to implement lawful intercept while lacking sufficient legal safeguards.

Not the first Israeli spyware scandal

Israeli-led spyware industry has been embroiled in a seemingly never-ending spate of extremely prominent controversies. Revelations that it sells its spyware to authoritarian regimes, that its products have been used to spy on journalists, activists, politicians, and even potentially world leaders, and accusations that it played a role in murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death have put it at the center of international criticism.

Pegasus

In November 2021, the United States placed "Israel's" spyware maker NSO Group, the corporation behind the notorious Pegasus, on its list of restricted companies.

NSO Group's Pegasus was exposed as having been used by oppressive regimes to spy on journalists, human rights activists, dissidents, and even heads of state.

Washington also targeted another Israeli company, Candiru, a Singapore-based Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE (COSEINC).

According to an investigation led by The Washington Post and 16 media partners, Pegasus is military-grade spyware leased by the Israeli firm to governments who used it in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists, and business executives, among others.

Smartphones infected with Israeli spyware would become pocket-spying devices, allowing the user to read the target's messages, look through their photos, track their location, and even turn on their camera without their knowledge.

Pegasus has also "enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression, which is the practice of authoritarian governments targeting dissidents, journalists, and activists outside of their sovereign borders to silence dissent," the US Commerce Department said in a statement.

Graphite

Last December, US senior senators said they will look into the government's purchase and use of strong spyware developed by two Israeli hacking firms, as Congress passed legislation in recent days aimed at limiting the spread of hacking tools, NYT reported.

Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, wrote to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration last week, requesting extensive information about the agency's use of Graphite, yet another Israeli spyware tool developed by Paragon.

In further detail, Graphite, like the more well-known Israeli hacking tool Pegasus, can infiltrate targets' mobile phones and extract texts, videos, photographs, and other data, the report noted.

Predator

In September of 2022, Israeli-made spyware, Predator, was reportedly used to hack into a Greek ex-minister's phone in the third case of a Greek national being targeted with the malware.

Predator and Pegasus spyware are very similar to each other, with the latter made by the competing and more famous cyber firm NSO Group. Like Pegasus, Predator allows the operator to access the entire contents of the target’s phone, as well as secretly activate its camera and phone and recording.

Greece is involved in a massive political scandal over revelations involving spyware, which was found on the phone of a prominent investigative journalist and the leader of the country's social democratic party.

The head of Greece's intelligence service Panagiotis Kontoleon stepped down amid increased scrutiny of the agency's surveillance practices, including an accusation by an opposition party leader that his phone was bugged by Predator in 2021.