Bots in social networks, false news, budget from €6 million
Undercover reporters uncovered a group of Israeli contractors who meddled in the elections of at least 33 countries. They exploited weaknesses in social networks, deceived automated accounts, and produced untrue information.
A group of Israeli contractors, including a unit called “Team Jorge” created by former special forces officer Tal Hanan under the alias “Jorge”, has been intervening and controlling 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 and intelligence agencies, as well as corporate clients who wanted to secretly influence public opinion. He informed undercover reporters that “Team Jorge” had carried out successful operations in Africa, South and Central America, the United States, and Europe.
How do contractors operate?
Israeli contractors offer clients various service packages, with the primary one being “advanced media impact solutions,” the journalists state. They manage a large group of artificial profiles on the social networks Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram, and YouTube (Facebook and Instagram are owned by Meta, which has been designated extremist in Russia and its operations are prohibited). The Guardian writes that “Some avatars even have Amazon accounts with credit cards, bitcoin wallets, and Airbnb accounts.”
Hanan’s undercover ICIJ reporters were informed by his team about how they gathered information on competitors, even using hacking methods to access Gmail and Telegram accounts. Moreover, they bragged about placing materials in legitimate news outlets, and then with the help of special software, they managed to manipulate cheating and automated accounts.
A large part of their strategy seems to have focused on disrupting or undermining rival campaigns: the team even alleged that they sent a sex toy via Amazon to the politician’s home to make his wife falsely believe he was having an affair, as reported by The Guardian.
Cost of interference
The newspaper reports that the exposure of “Team Jorge” could create difficulties for Israel, which is already facing “growing diplomatic pressure due to the sale of cyber weapons that undermine democracy and human rights.” According to the ICIJ, Jorge conducted some of his operations through the Israeli company Demoman International, which the Israeli Defense Ministry used for promoting exports of defense products.
Hanan himself described his team as international professionals and government graduates “with expertise in finance, social media and campaigning, and psychological warfare.” For each instance of election interference, he proposed payments ranging from €6 million to €15 million in cash or digital currency.
At the same time, investigators note that based on emails uncovered by The Guardian, it can be inferred that in 2015 Hanan offered the British consulting company Cambridge Analytica $160,000 to participate in an eight-week campaign in a Latin American country. The leaked documents also revealed that “Team Jorge” was covertly involved in Nigeria’s 2015 presidential race.
Tool for making automated conversation programs
Hanan told reporters that his team has made special software called Aims, which can create up to 5,000 bots to send out large numbers of messages and spread information. He said it's their own creation for making semi-automatic fake personalities and a system for putting them online, and mentioned that it has already been used in 17 elections.
While showing the Aims interface, Hanan scrolled through many fake personalities and demonstrated how fake profiles could be instantly made by choosing nationality and gender, and then matching profile pictures with names. He encouraged reporters to make a fake candidate together.
When asked where the photos for bot personalities come from, Hanan didn't give a direct answer. However, journalists were able to find several cases where the images were taken from real people's social media accounts. Besides Aims, Hanan talked about his system for creating websites automatically, which Aims-controlled profiles used to make fake news.
cursorinfo.co.il, 02/15/2023 “Israeli Operatives Manipulated Elections Worldwide – Media”: A bot named @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 very quickly. Three journalists from Haaretz, The Marker and Radio France approached the team under the pretense that they were consultants working for clients in an unnamed African country trying to delay elections. Meetings between Hanan and journalists took place through video calls, as well as in person at an unmarked office in Modiin. Four operatives were also present at the meetings. Hananaincluding his brother Zohar Khanan, who was identified by The Guardian as the group’s chief executive.
In his initial speech to what he viewed as 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
Unauthorized access to Telegram accounts
Explaining how to get the necessary information, Hasan showed reporters how he gains access to the encrypted Telegram app. 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 create conflict between the right people. And I can message 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.
Responding to a question about hacking methods, Hanan suggested that his company might have taken advantage of weaknesses 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.
