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>In a public response, NSO has said its technology helps stop terrorism and that they've installed controls to curb spying against innocent targets. For example
by boomboomsubban 5y ago
>In a public response, NSO has said its technology helps stop terrorism and that they've installed controls to curb spying against innocent targets. For example, NSO says its intrusion system cannot work on phones with U.S. numbers beginning with the country code +1.
So the point is to stop terrorism and to do that they've immediately ruled that all Americans aren't terrorists. That doesn't seem like a good metric of determining if someone is a terrorist, and makes me doubt their other controls are any better.
- comrh 5y agoNSO has repeatedly shown that their statements are pretty much worthless. It's just damage control. I wouldn't put any stock in the "we avoid +1 numbers" to even be real.
- bogwog 5y agoSeriously, they're pretty much the Mark Zuckerberg of their industry.
- indymike 5y agoThat is not fair to Mark Zuckerberg.
- rory 5y agoThey're pretty much the General Butt Naked of their industry.
- submeta 5y agoI‘d rather compare Zuckerberg to the Sackler family who knew how addictive and harmful their painkiller Oxycotin was, yet ignoring all evicence, making billions of dollars. Zuckerberg knows how bad Facebook and Instagram is, how harmful to individuals and society alike, yet ignoring that and making billions. Edit: Replaced „social media“ with „Facebook and Instagram“
- dylan604 5y agoWhy did you feel the need for the edit? I would agree with the blanket use of social media. Twitter is no better. Do we know enough about the inner working of TikTok to know they aren't doing similar?
- boomboomsubban 5y ago> I wouldn't put any stock in the "we avoid +1 numbers" to even be real. That part I believed. Setting up their software to not target the US seems like the kind of move they'd make. Claiming it's so they don't target innocent people is bullshit.
- notsureaboutpg 5y agoAmerica (who are effectively the world police) have decided to have pretty poor metrics to determine who is a terrorist, so they set the precedent for this kind of stuff. Random government officials in Iran cannot be considered terrorists because of a an embassy hostage situation from 50 years ago during a revolution in the country. If they can, then so can nearly every Chinese government official, every current Russian government official who was high up in the USSR, every current official in Iraq and Afghanistan, half the political leadership of Lebanon, Vietnam, etc.
- s_dev 5y agoSo I just have to buy a US phone to evade detection from NSO? And why didn't that logic work for US State Dept phones? I'm honestly of the opinion there is nothing that NSO can say that isn't outright lying. This isn't a normal company in anyway.
- boomboomsubban 5y ago>And why didn't that logic work for US State Dept phones They had Ugandan numbers, as they lived in Uganda.
- smnrchrds 5y agoI remember reading that some Russian (private sector) computer viruses did not attack computers whose language and locale were set to Russia. It's never about ethics. It's always about making as much money as possible without pissing off powerful people and entities.
- madars 5y agoYep, Krebs on Security wrote "Try This One Weird Trick Russian Hackers Hate" -- https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/05/try-this-one-weird-trick-russian-hackers-hate/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/05/try-this-one-weird-trick...
- patrickyeon 5y agoCrudely, we would say "don't shit where you eat". I've heard from the early (as in, 80's) hacking days some of the people in the US would never hit targets in their own state, as there wasn't good federal-level enforcement nor inter-state collaboration. Of course that would backfire today because you're immediately commiting crimes across state lines...
- prox 5y agoI had this with a Chinese app. Works well on a Chinese language phone, downloads an extra package if not.
- dkjaudyeqooe 5y ago
- SamuelAdams 5y agoReminds me of how some ransomware looks for if your default keyboard language is Russian. If so then it exits, doing nothing.
- tut-urut-utut 5y agoOK, so the best way to protect privacy is to get US-based phone number and install Russian keyboard as a default.
- TriNetra 5y agoAnd it should have a list of sites blocked by Chinese regime downloaded as discovered by Lithuania [0], for even grater privacy. 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28616683 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28616683
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> the point is to stop terrorism and to do that they've immediately ruled that all Americans aren't terrorists The alleged point is to sell software that stops terrorism. Pissing off America is a good way to stop being able to sell your software.
- Apofis 5y agoThese people are in for a world of hurt, the State Department tells the CIA what to do.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> State Department tells the CIA what to do Your broader point is correct, but no, it doesn't. The CIA is an independent agency [1]. It reports to the DNI [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_agencies_of_the_United_States_government https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_agencies_of_the_Un... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intellige...
- Apofis 5y agoYes, but who dictates where and how they can play overseas?
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> who dictates where and how they can play overseas? The Director and Deputy Director of the CIA.
- Apofis 5y agoI'll simply disagree.
- the_only_law 5y agoHeh, that showdown sounds like it would make for a hell of a book decades later.
- TriNetra 5y agoNSO has a deal with US Telecom to grow its market share throughout the world and hence the +1 statement. /s Maybe NSA wants every important call goes through USA network (and hence a deal with NSO) - makes the job easier for three letter agencies.
- discreditable 5y agoFunny enough this reminds me of the ransomware that doesn't work if a cyrillic keyboard is installed. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/05/try-this-one-weird-trick-russian-hackers-hate/ https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/05/try-this-one-weird-trick...
- fibbberMEN 5y agoSomeone else linked that one, it's hilarious and unsurprising really. Lots of people purposefully avoid certain OSes (mostly linux distros) as well out of respect NOT because of population/userbase of the OS. Lots of discussion on worm/trojan development forums over the years.
- fmajid 5y agoIf you are a Russian hacker, you probably don't want to piss off a Russian mobster who has the capability to take you out, and the contacts within Russian intelligence to identify you.
- snarf21 5y ago"We promise we don't work on numbers with +1" :wink: :wink:
- md_ 5y agoAs an obvious statement: I think this should be interpreted similarly to some ransomware not infecting devices with RU keyboards: it's just about avoiding difficult regulatory environments. The analogy, of course, goes further. Though unlike most ransomware companies, NSO has British and American VC funding.
- shireboy 5y agoMost people don't know that the first bit of an area code is the evil bit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_bit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_bit
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]