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“ NSO says its intrusion system cannot work on phones with U.S. numbers beginning with the country code +1.” Seems like they just need to add a similar patch f

“ NSO says its intrusion system cannot work on phones with U.S. numbers beginning with the country code +1.” Seems like they just need to add a similar patch for apple ids for emails ending in “state.gov”. Not sure why this is such a big deal.

whatshisface 5y ago
Come on, think about it. Doesn't work for phone numbers starting with +1? So, anyone who buys the right sim card is immune? A team of professional hackers can't find the if-else in the attack binary that enforces that to disable it? They're selling software to cybersecurity teams on the assumption that they can't crack it?
- RealityVoid 5y ago
  My understanding is that it's not _just_ a tool, but a whole infrastructure around it that the clients use. So presumably, before deploying to a target, it would need to go through NSO infrastructure, so they could vet there.
- indymike 5y ago
  > A team of professional hackers can't find the if-else in the attack binary that enforces that to disable it? It's probably easier than that. Seems like the kind of thing that would be in a config file (making this up, satire): [No Spying Allowed - please do not change] # Really, really, don't change this setting. We are not responsible if you do. +1 # USA +3542 # NSO Group > They're selling software to cybersecurity teams on the assumption that they can't crack it? No, I think they are telling journalists that their hands are clean, and it totally isn't their fault, not in a million years, that their customer changed their software.
deleted 5y ago
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walrus01 5y ago
which is pretty absurd since there's only a vague relationship in the modern SS7/PSTN between a phone's DID and where it might be physically located. In five minutes of work I could have a New Zealand number ring on my desk phone anywhere in the world.
Scoundreller 5y ago
So it doesn’t work on US phone numbers or doesn’t work on +1 country code? -confused Canadian because we share the +1 country code with USA under NANPA
kshacker 5y ago
Canadians go 'yay', finally some benefit of the big brother. PS: I don't buy the explanation btw
asplake 5y ago
As someone who doesn’t have a +1 number I find it hard to take this comment seriously. But could it be possible that some state department employees work outside the US?
fmajid 5y ago
Presumably those phones had Ugandan numbers.
madars 5y ago
Wait, what about that one time NSO's malware was used to hack Jeff Bezos? Pretty sure he'd have used a +1 ... number.

whatshisface 5y ago

Come on, think about it. Doesn't work for phone numbers starting with +1? So, anyone who buys the right sim card is immune? A team of professional hackers can't find the if-else in the attack binary that enforces that to disable it? They're selling software to cybersecurity teams on the assumption that they can't crack it?

RealityVoid 5y ago
My understanding is that it's not _just_ a tool, but a whole infrastructure around it that the clients use. So presumably, before deploying to a target, it would need to go through NSO infrastructure, so they could vet there.
indymike 5y ago
> A team of professional hackers can't find the if-else in the attack binary that enforces that to disable it? It's probably easier than that. Seems like the kind of thing that would be in a config file (making this up, satire): [No Spying Allowed - please do not change] # Really, really, don't change this setting. We are not responsible if you do. +1 # USA +3542 # NSO Group > They're selling software to cybersecurity teams on the assumption that they can't crack it? No, I think they are telling journalists that their hands are clean, and it totally isn't their fault, not in a million years, that their customer changed their software.

deleted 5y ago

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walrus01 5y ago

which is pretty absurd since there's only a vague relationship in the modern SS7/PSTN between a phone's DID and where it might be physically located. In five minutes of work I could have a New Zealand number ring on my desk phone anywhere in the world.

Scoundreller 5y ago

So it doesn’t work on US phone numbers or doesn’t work on +1 country code? -confused Canadian because we share the +1 country code with USA under NANPA

kshacker 5y ago

Canadians go 'yay', finally some benefit of the big brother. PS: I don't buy the explanation btw

asplake 5y ago

As someone who doesn’t have a +1 number I find it hard to take this comment seriously. But could it be possible that some state department employees work outside the US?

fmajid 5y ago

Presumably those phones had Ugandan numbers.

madars 5y ago

Wait, what about that one time NSO's malware was used to hack Jeff Bezos? Pretty sure he'd have used a +1 ... number.