ICE Gets Use Of Sophisticated Phone Hacking Tool

 

Trump's fascist goon squad ICE now has unprecedented ability to invade the privacy of every American who uses a mobile phone:

US immigration agents will have access to one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools after a decision by the Trump administration to move ahead with a contract with Paragon Solutions, a company founded in Israel which makes spyware that can be used to hack into any mobile phone – including encrypted applications.  [snip]

It means that one of the most powerful stealth cyberweapons ever created – which was produced outside the US – is now in the hands of an agency that has repeatedly been accused by civil and human rights groups of violating people’s due process rights. [snip]

When it is successfully deployed against a target, the hacking software – called Graphite – can hack into any phone. By essentially taking control of the mobile phone, the user – in this case, Ice – can not only track an individual’s whereabouts, read their messages, look at their photographs, but it can also open and read information held on encrypted applications, like WhatsApp or Signal. Spyware like Graphite can also be used as a listening device, through the manipulation of the phone’s recorder.  [snip]

John Scott-Railton, a senior research at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, who is one of the world’s leading experts on cases in which spyware like Graphite has been abused by governments, said in a statement that such tools “were designed for dictatorships, not democracies built on liberty and protection of individual rights”.

“Invasive, secret hacking power is corrupting. That’s why there’s a growing pile of spyware scandals in democracies, including with Paragon’s Graphite,” he said, referring to a controversy in Italy that erupted last last year.

Paragon broke off its ties to Italy after it was revealed that 90 people, including journalists and members of civil society, in two dozen countries, had been targeted with the spyware. The individuals who were targeted by the Italian government included human rights activists who have been critical of Italy’s dealings with Libya. Several journalists were also targeted, though it is still unclear who ordered those hacking attacks.  (our emphasis)

Railton is right.  This is the type of spyware dictatorships use to spy on their citizens.  With a regime comprising Trump and lawless drones like Bondi, Patel, Noem, and Homan, it's spine-chilling to consider the magnitude and scope of the abuses these rancid clowns would be capable of in using this software.  ICE is being set up as Trump's personal secret police force, end- running the FBI and other institutions who have lawless leaders, but also have a core of professionals who owe allegiance to the Constitution.  ICE goons and their leadership, not so much.

(Image:  via Forbes.com)