7 ms·

Millions of Android Phones Are Vulnerable to Israeli Surveillance Dealer Attack

58 points by tomklein 7y ago

Razengan 7y ago
44 minutes, 22 points and 0 comments. If this was about iPhones it would be 400 by now.
- tedunangst 7y ago
  It's also the third or fourth link on the subject.
  - dang 7y ago
    Were there other major discussions besides https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871?
    - tedunangst 7y ago
      I thought I saw the original source, https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1942 https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=19..., on the home page at one point too.
- izacus 7y ago
  Good news for you: there was a duplicate post with 213 comments already! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871
  - Razengan 7y ago
    Ah thanks for putting me straight. Sorry for my kneejerk.
krilly 7y ago
Can anyone explain why the private sector in Israel comes up with so many zero-days?
- dogma1138 7y ago
  Because they don’t have a large local market like the US does. The US can pay market rate or even well above it for contractors that would do the same stuff for the NSA and other organizations, Israel has a much less lucrative local defense market hence why they are focused on export. Combine it with a mandatory service in which the Intelligence Directorate gets to pick the top of the top rather than just form those who volunteered for service and you get a large number of brilliant minds that spent 3-5 years if not more of their life doing this for little to no pay coming out to the private sectors with plenty of offers to put their talents to use.
- rolltiide 7y ago
  Sure Its a mixture of coincidence Plus consolidation of PhDs, and extremely high education including in computer science Plus heavy conscription into military service including intelligence community where this adversarial thinking is necessary Plus general amorality to who these weaponized software exploits can be sold to, and proximity to interested parties
  - golemiprague 7y ago
    What is moral? selling it to you? not selling it at all?
- avip 7y ago
  Spice in some report-bias as well. NSO is doing great PR work. Others may prefer less public exposure.
- flyinglizard 7y ago
  Zero days are one side of it, the other is the incredible number of cyber security companies born in Israel (or abroad by Israelis). Checkpoint, Imperva, RSA, Palo Alto networks, CyberArk and dozens more (and I only listed the ones that IPOd).
izacus 7y ago
This is a duplicate of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 it seems.
stevespang 7y ago
This may be off topic, if somebody that has "privileges" wants to verify this and post it - - I just downloaded BRAVE browser and started checking what are typically Paywalled Hacker News articles and ALL OF THEM are coming through without nag screens - - what's going on ?

58 points by tomklein 7y ago

Razengan 7y ago

44 minutes, 22 points and 0 comments. If this was about iPhones it would be 400 by now.

tedunangst 7y ago
It's also the third or fourth link on the subject.
- dang 7y ago
  Were there other major discussions besides https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871?
  - tedunangst 7y ago
    I thought I saw the original source, https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1942 https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=19..., on the home page at one point too.
izacus 7y ago
Good news for you: there was a duplicate post with 213 comments already! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871
- Razengan 7y ago
  Ah thanks for putting me straight. Sorry for my kneejerk.

krilly 7y ago

Can anyone explain why the private sector in Israel comes up with so many zero-days?

dogma1138 7y ago
Because they don’t have a large local market like the US does. The US can pay market rate or even well above it for contractors that would do the same stuff for the NSA and other organizations, Israel has a much less lucrative local defense market hence why they are focused on export. Combine it with a mandatory service in which the Intelligence Directorate gets to pick the top of the top rather than just form those who volunteered for service and you get a large number of brilliant minds that spent 3-5 years if not more of their life doing this for little to no pay coming out to the private sectors with plenty of offers to put their talents to use.
rolltiide 7y ago
Sure Its a mixture of coincidence Plus consolidation of PhDs, and extremely high education including in computer science Plus heavy conscription into military service including intelligence community where this adversarial thinking is necessary Plus general amorality to who these weaponized software exploits can be sold to, and proximity to interested parties
- golemiprague 7y ago
  What is moral? selling it to you? not selling it at all?
avip 7y ago
Spice in some report-bias as well. NSO is doing great PR work. Others may prefer less public exposure.
flyinglizard 7y ago
Zero days are one side of it, the other is the incredible number of cyber security companies born in Israel (or abroad by Israelis). Checkpoint, Imperva, RSA, Palo Alto networks, CyberArk and dozens more (and I only listed the ones that IPOd).

izacus 7y ago

This is a duplicate of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21167871 it seems.

stevespang 7y ago

This may be off topic, if somebody that has "privileges" wants to verify this and post it - - I just downloaded BRAVE browser and started checking what are typically Paywalled Hacker News articles and ALL OF THEM are coming through without nag screens - - what's going on ?