Post · Campground

#Cybersecurity #Spyware #Germany #Predator #Surveillance: "Now, for the first time, documents obtained by DER SPIEGEL and the French investigative portal Mediapart and shared with their partners in the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) provide deep insight into the secret world of inventors, financiers and vendors of fearsome spy weapons like Predator. Specialists with Amnesty International assisted the reporting with technical analysis.

Particularly alarming is the realization that many of the tracks left by the unscrupulous spyware providers lead to Germany, the self-proclaimed cradle of data protection and informational self-determination. There, an extremely well-connected Hamburg entrepreneur invested in two companies involved in the scandal, and an art-loving patron from Berlin supplied significant amounts of money to support the development of the spyware.

Our reporting into the Predator Files took several months and is based on thousands of court documents, interrogation transcripts and confidential company presentations. It has revealed that European business executives have earned a fortune by equipping countries that flout the rule of law and despots with the latest surveillance tools for more than a decade.

Financed, supported and advised by people in Germany, these companies ultimately joined forces in an alliance that helped to spy on a grand scale. Known as the Intellexa Alliance, the collaboration is likely one of the most mysterious and dangerous ventures in Europe."

https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/the-predator-files-european-spyware-consortium-supplied-despots-and-dictators-a-2fd8043f-c5c1-4b05-b5a6-e8f8b9949978?sara_ref=re-so-tw-sh

"On 5 October 2023, a major global investigation – the “Predator Files” – was published exposing the proliferation of surveillance technologies around the world and the failure of governments and the European Union (EU) to properly regulate the industry. The Security Lab at Amnesty International is a technical partner in the “Predator Files”, a project coordinated by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) media network into the Intellexa alliance, the makers and marketers of the Predator spyware. As part of this collaboration, the Security Lab has reviewed technical documentation, marketing material and other records obtained by Der Spiegel and Mediapart – who are part of EIC – which shed light on the ecosystem of surveillance products offered by the Intellexa alliance.

The Intellexa alliance is an evolving group of companies and brands that have been involved in developing and marketing a wide range of surveillance products including advanced spyware, mass surveillance platforms, and tactical systems for targeting and intercepting nearby devices. The corporate entities of the alliance span various jurisdictions, both within and outside the EU. The exact nature of links between these companies is shrouded in secrecy as corporate entities, and the structures between them, are constantly morphing, renaming, rebranding, and evolving."

https://securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2023/10/technical-deep-dive-into-intellexa-alliance-surveillance-products/