{"id":39285,"date":"2016-06-02T13:09:03","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T17:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=39285"},"modified":"2016-06-02T13:19:24","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T17:19:24","slug":"meet-ability-inc-the-israeli-company-that-wants-to-hack-your-cellphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=39285","title":{"rendered":"Meet Ability Inc \u2013 The Israeli Company That Wants To Hack Your Cellphone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by Mike Krieger
\nLiberty Blitzkrieg<\/p>\n

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\u00a0When you\u00a0first\u00a0<\/strong>go on duty at CIA headquarters, you raise your hand and swear an oath \u2014 not to government, not to the agency, not to secrecy. You swear an oath to the Constitution. So there\u2019s this friction, this emerging contest between the obligations and values that the government asks you to uphold, and the actual activities that you\u2019re asked to participate in.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

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By preying on the modern necessity to stay connected, governments can reduce our dignity to something like that of tagged animals, the primary difference being that we paid for the tags and they\u2019re in our pockets.\u00a0It sounds like fantasist paranoia, but on the technical level it\u2019s so trivial to implement that I cannot imagine a future in which it won\u2019t be attempted. It will be limited to the war zones at first, in accordance with our customs, but surveillance technology has a tendency to follow us home.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2013 From the post:\u00a0A Whistleblower Manifesto by Edward Snowden<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yesterday, Forbes<\/em> published an interesting and disturbing article profiling a company called Ability Inc in the post:\u00a0For $20M, These Israeli Hackers Will Spy On Any Phone On The Planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First, the good news. As the article notes, the company has been struggling as of late with lawsuits and it seems obvious to me that the reason Ability agreed to talk to Forbes<\/em> is for some free advertising. If the company was performing particularly\u00a0well, there\u2019d be no need to agree to this interview and executives would try to keep their business practices as clandestine as possible. That\u2019s the good news.<\/p>\n

The bad news is that a global \u201cindustry\u201d like this exists in the first place. While virtually all countries in the world have harsh penalties for individuals who decide to do drugs on their own time and to their own bodies, governments appear to have no problem\u00a0with corporations that exist solely to violate people\u2019s privacy. Probably because these same governments as the main clients of such companies. The fact that we put up with this and pretend it\u2019s a legitimate business practice\u00a0is an embarrassment to us as a species.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, without further ado, here are some excerpts from the Forbes<\/em> piece<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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With just a few million dollars and a phone number, you can snoop on any call or text that phone makes \u2013 no matter where you are or where the device is located.<\/em><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s the bold claim of Israel\u2019s Ability Inc, which offers its set of bleeding-edge spy tools to governments the world over. And it\u2019s plotting to flog\u00a0its kit to\u00a0American cops in the coming months.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Ability\u2019s most startling product, from both technical and price perspectives, is the Unlimited Interception System (ULIN). Launched in November last year, it can cost as much as $20 million, depending on how many targets the customer wants to surveil. All a ULIN customer requires is the target\u2019s phone number or the\u00a0IMSI<\/a>\u00a0(International Mobile Subscriber Identity), the unique identifier for an individual mobile device. Got those? Then boom \u2013 you can spy on a target\u2019s location, calls and texts.<\/em><\/p>\n

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ULIN has no such geographic limitation. A\u00a0quarterly update document posted only on May 2<\/a>, spells out the tech\u2019s power: \u201cULIN enables interception of voice calls, SMS messages and call-related information of GSM\/UMTS\/LTE phones, without the need to be close to the intercepted phone and\u00a0without the consent of\u00a0mobile\u00a0network operators [emphasis by FORBES]\u00a0and requires only the mobile device\u2019s phone number or IMSI. Customers can use ULIN to intercept calls, and gather other information, from anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Ability\u2019s service \u2013 it is the sole licensee from an unknown third party \u2013 exploits a\u00a0weakness resident in SS7<\/a>, the Signalling System No. 7. A core part of the world\u2019s shared networking infrastructure, SS7 helps route calls between different carriers and switching centers.<\/strong> Service providers often use SS7 to support communications in areas where the customer\u2019s normal network isn\u2019t available, such as when the user is abroad. For instance, when a Verizon user is holidaying in Spain, local carriers will use SS7 to \u201cspeak\u201d with the customer\u2019s operator to determine who provides its service.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Hackers, however, use weaknesses in the SS7 network for a number of nefarious purposes. For instance, to forward calls heading to voicemail to their own devices. They can do this because wireless networks do not have the necessary safeguards to block these attacks. Concerns around\u00a0SS7 have led House Democrat Ted Lieu to demand a Congressional investigation and the\u00a0Federal Communications Commission has launched its own probe<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ted Lieu is one of the few members of Congress worth anything. See:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is What Happens When a Member of Congress Holds a Computer Science Degree (*Hint: Logic)<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

Apple Vows to Defend Its Customers as the FBI Launches a War on Privacy and Security<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Previously, government contractors selling SS7 exploitation tools had to work with wireless service providers to access the \u00a0SS7 network. These tools, according to a\u00a0Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0report in 2014, were only able to detect users\u2019 locations, not intercept communication. Ability, however, can do much more.<\/em><\/p>\n

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According \u00a0to documents seen by FORBES, one of which was leaked by an anonymous source (published below and on\u00a0Document Cloud<\/a>), Ability\u2019s ULIN service allows it to locate targets and snoop on calls and texts \u2013 without any assistance from the cellular networks.<\/strong> According to whitehat hacker Drew Porter from security consultancy\u00a0Red Mesa<\/a>, this is technically feasible, and could be done in\u00a0two ways: by hacking the SS7 network or by leasing a system from a carrier that has the ability to \u201ctalk\u201d to large parts of the network.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cHaving access to SS7 is really a golden key of surveillance, I\u2019m not surprised [Ability] capitalized on it,\u201d said Claudio Guarnieri, a security and human rights advocate who this week helped launch a\u00a0map of attacks on journalists and activists<\/a>, as well as the surveillance vendors facilitating global spying. He plans to add Ability to the map this week.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Karsten Nohl, a German whitehat hacker from Security Research Labs who has frequently highlighted security shortcomings in SS7, said the intercept capabilities that SS7 provides \u201care probably the most powerful currently available.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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SS7 exploit services have created \u00a0anxieties around a lack of oversight over their use. Until last year, cops in the United States used Stingrays without warrants. Following complaints from civil rights bodies, the\u00a0Department of Justice mandated warrants<\/a>, but the invasive tool had already been deployed\u00a0and the damage done.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The same could happen with tools like ULIN, warned\u00a0Nathan Wessler, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union. \u201cThis system means that law enforcement will have the ability to conduct wiretaps and location tracking without anybody scrutinizing what they\u2019re doing, and nobody may have the opportunity to push back and demand appropriate legal process,\u201d Wessler told FORBES.<\/em><\/p>\n

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While U.S. law enforcement officers are able to get phone records from carriers with the right warrant, the Ability service means they don\u2019t need to get such permission, he added.<\/strong> \u201cThere is a significance to cutting the phone companies out of that transaction, because it makes it trivially easy to totally bypass the legal protections that are required under the U.S. Constitution and federal law.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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American cops may soon be paying big bucks for Ability\u2019s tech.<\/strong> The Israeli company is planning a significant expansion in America this year and is currently looking for a partner to help it sell to U.S. law enforcement, says Ability\u2019s CEO, Anatoly Hurgin, who I spoke with as he was driving to his office in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning and later that afternoon from his company HQ.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cYou cannot just ignore such a huge market. It\u2019s about half of the world market for our kind of technology,\u201d he said. An\u00a0SEC filing<\/a>\u00a0detailing Ability\u2019s merger with Cambridge Capital Acquisition Corporation, which helped the Israeli company go public, indicates the market is indeed blowing up; the U.S. lawful intercept industry worth $3.8 billion in 2015 is expected to hit $6.3 billion in 2020. That same document valued Ability at $225 million, though it\u2019s current market cap is down at $71.1M.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notice how he describes violating the U.S. Constitution as a \u201chuge market.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hurgin\u2019s tools may allow for easy snooping on others, but he told me\u00a0he cares about his own privacy.<\/strong> There\u2019s very little public information about him. His LinkedIn profile reveals nothing beyond his position at Ability. His Google+ and Skype avatars show a thin man, grey hair, sunglasses. Hurgin says he started Ability with its equally enigmatic Russian co-founder Alexander Aurovsky after a long stint in the Israeli Defense Forces, but he won\u2019t tell me what division. He says it wasn\u2019t the\u00a0noted Unit 8200<\/a>\u00a0or Shin Bet. \u201cI started as an electronic engineer,\u201d is all he says.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Despite the bold claims, Ability\u2019s tool may not be as \u201cunlimited\u201d as advertised. Kohl notes that some operators have already deployed firewalls that prevent SS7 attacks.<\/strong> Many more will do so this year, he claimed, noting he is helping a handful of unnamed operators set up those firewalls. \u201cSS7 firewalls block messages types that are clearly abusive and also some other possibly abusive messages from strange senders. A few firewall rules go a long way to solve 90 per cent of the SS7 security issue.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Is Hurgin concerned about his pricey product becoming obsolete? \u201cThis concern does exist. But talking about [fixing the networks] and doing something are different things.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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But this month, the company suddenly found itself under threat of legal action from its own investors. Having started trading publicly on the Nasdaq in December, Ability had a steady start, but in May shares started tanking. Though Hurgin put a positive spin on profits, they masked a glaring issue: Ability had been compelled to restate its results for 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 as it had failed to report money owed to an unnamed third-party vendor across two of those years and had improperly reported allocation and timing of revenue.<\/em><\/p>\n

By September, Hurgin believes ULIN will be able to intercept internet traffic, including web and app use. He can\u2019t promise, however, it will be able to hoover up encrypted data.<\/em><\/p>\n

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ULIN is a young product, and may not be in wide use. According to May\u2019s results document, Ability has sold only one ULIN product at the low end of its price scale, but has \u201creceived inquiries from a number of existing and potential customers.\u201d<\/strong> It will treat that first customer, who will not be doing cross-border exploitation but focusing on targets within their own country, as a beta test. Hurgin tells me the firm has customers in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Did that include the UK? \u201cLet\u2019s say we\u2019re in touch.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Ability isn\u2019t the only company to target SS7 so aggressively. Indeed, Ability didn\u2019t actually design the ULIN product, nor does it own the technology, but licenses it from an unnamed third-party. The company is investing research and development for the system, and is the only one deploying the tool on its own infrastructure, but it has relied on another firm for the core system. That other firm is only described in SEC filings as \u201ca newly established corporation with a short operating history and is still unknown in the industry.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s clear, though, that at least one company is happy to expose the security of the telecoms backbone for significant profit. And the surveillance is only getting more invasive. As with any technology, where one crosses the Rubicon, others will follow, regardless of the potential degradation of people\u2019s privacy.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So how does this unethical person justify the obvious harm to humanity his company is attempting to inflict?<\/p>\n

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Hurgin, meanwhile, says governments need the technology to counter the rising threat of terrorism. \u201cIt is a war.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Terrorism. The authoritarian and financial opportunists\u2019 justification to do absolutely anything.<\/p>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2016-06-02\/meet-ability-inc-%E2%80%93-israeli-company-wants-hack-your-cellphone<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mike Krieger Liberty Blitzkrieg \u00a0When you\u00a0first\u00a0go on duty at CIA headquarters, you raise your hand and swear an oath \u2014 not to government, not to the agency, not to secrecy. You swear an oath to the Constitution. So there\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}