Bots on social media, false information, budget starting from 6 million euros

Covert journalists uncovered a group of Israeli workers who meddled in the elections of at least 33 countries. They exploited weaknesses in social media, deceived bots, and made false news.

A group of Israeli workers, including a unit called “Team Jorge” led by ex-special forces officer Tal Hanan aka “Jorge”, has been tampering with elections in many countries for over 20 years. This information comes from the investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) as reported by The Guardian.

According to investigators, Hanan provided his services to foreign governments, intelligence agencies, and corporate clients who wanted to secretly influence public opinion. He claimed that “Team Jorge” had carried out successful operations in Africa, South and Central America, as well as the United States and Europe.

How do contractors operate?

Israeli contractors offer clients different service packages, with the main focus being “advanced media impact solutions,” as stated by journalists. They manage a large number of fake profiles on various social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram, and YouTube. It was also mentioned that some profiles even have Amazon, Bitcoin, and Airbnb accounts.

Hanan’s undercover ICIJ reporters were informed by his team about how they obtained information about opponents, including using hacking methods to access Gmail and Telegram accounts. They also bragged about placing material in legitimate news sources and then using special software to control cheating and bots.

It seems that a significant part of their strategy involved disrupting or sabotaging rival campaigns: the team even claimed to have sent a sex toy via Amazon to a politician’s home in order to give his wife the false impression that he was having an affair. This information is from The Guardian.

Cost of intervention

The newspaper states that the exposure of “Team Jorge” could cause problems for Israel, which is already facing increasing diplomatic pressure due to the sale of cyber weapons that undermine democracy and human rights. According to the ICIJ, Jorge conducted some operations through the Israeli company Demoman International, which the Israeli Defense Ministry used to promote the export of defense products.

Hanan himself described his team as international professionals and government graduates with expertise in finance, social media, campaigning, and psychological warfare. For each instance of election interference, he offered to pay between 6 million and 15 million euros in cash or cryptocurrency.

At the same time, investigators highlight that from emails uncovered by The Guardian, it appears that in 2015 Hanan proposed to the British consulting company Cambridge Analytica $160,000 to take part in an eight-week campaign in a Latin American country. The leaked documents also revealed that “Team Jorge” was covertly working on Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election.

Tool for making automated programs that talk to people

Also, Hanan told reporters that his team has made special software called Aims, which can create up to 5,000 automated programs to send out lots of messages and spread information. “This is our own creation for making semi-automatic characters and a network deployment system,” he said and indicated that it had already been used in 17 elections.

When demonstrating the Aims interface, Hanan scrolled through lots of characters and showed how fake profiles could be made instantly by choosing nationality and gender, and then matching profile pictures with names, the newspaper notes. “These are Spaniards, Russians, you see Asians, Muslims. Let’s make a candidate together,” he urged reporters.

When asked where the photos for bot characters come from, Hanan did not directly answer. However, journalists were able to identify several cases where the images were taken from social media accounts of real people. In addition to Aims, Hanan spoke about his “blogging machine,” an automated system for making websites that Aims-controlled characters used to create fake news.

cursorinfo.co.il, 02/15/2023 “Israeli Operatives Manipulated Elections Worldwide – Media”: A tool called @Canaelan was found to have connections to many fake social media profiles, all controlled by Team’s disinformation software Jorge and based in Israel.

According to the investigation, software known as Advanced Impact Media Solutions (AIMS) monitors more than 30,000 fake social media profiles, each of which can be used to widely spread disinformation or propaganda at extraordinary speed. […] three journalists from Haaretz, The Marker and Radio France approached the team on the pretext that they were consultants working on behalf of clients in an unnamed African country who were trying to delay elections. Meetings between Hanan and journalists took place through video calls, as well as a face-to-face meeting at an unmarked office in Modiin. Also present at the meetings were four operatives. Hananaincluding his brother Zohar Khanan, who was named by The Guardian as the group’s chief executive.

In his initial address to those he considered potential new clients, Hanan stated that Jorge’s team had completed “33 presidential-level campaigns, 27 of which were successful.” He also told undercover reporters that he was involved in two “major projects” in the US, but said that Jorge’s team was not directly involved in US politics. — Inset K.ru

Breaking into a Telegram account

Talking about ways to get the necessary information, Hasan showed reporters how he gains access to the “secure Telegram”: from the account of one “Kenyan strategist”, Hanan sent a message “hello, how are you, dear” to one of his contacts. “You understand that one of the most important things is to put sticks between the right people. And I can text him what I think of his wife, or what I think of his last speech, or I can tell him that I promised him to be my next chief of staff, okay?” — said the head of the illegal company.

In response to a question about hacking methods, Hanan hinted that his company may have exploited vulnerabilities in the SS7 global communications system used to send service messages over the telephone network.

Telegram, in response to a request from The Guardian, said that the SS7 vulnerability issue is “widely known and not unique.” “Accounts on any popular social network or messaging app could be vulnerable to hacking or impersonation if users do not follow security best practices and take proper precautions to keep their accounts safe,” the press noted. -service.

Spyware from Israel

This is not the first time that firms with Israeli roots have been exposed for surveillance and spyware. So, in July 2021, the non-profit journalistic organization Forbidden Stories and The Washington Post, The Guardian, Haaretz and Les Echos who joined the investigation reported that the authorities in some countries used NSO Group software to hack the phones of politicians, journalists and activists around the world. For surveillance, Pegasus, a remotely implemented spyware program, was used, the right to use which is granted only to states and state agencies.

The investigation showed that one of the leaked lists of tapped phones contained 50,000 numbers. Wiretapping was conducted from Mexico, India and Hungary. Also among the countries whose governments have authorized the use of Pegasus against the press are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The targets of the hack were journalists from both local and international publications, including CNN, Associated Press, New York Times and Bloomberg.

After that, the US Department of Commerce blacklisted NSO Group for actions in cyberspace that “threaten the interests of national security and foreign policy” of the country, and Apple sued the company. According to the corporation, NSO Group and its clients hacked smartphones of private users and gained access to a microphone, camera and personal data.

The NSO Group has called the allegations unfounded and said it operates in an ethical manner. Sources later told Bloomberg and the Financial Times that following numerous allegations, the NSO Group had run into financial difficulties and was considering selling the company or closing its Pegasus division.