UAE says Cyber ​​super weapon will serve iPhones

The former US intelligence operation team for the United Arab Emirates has broken the iPhone's activists, diplomats and foreign-backed iPhones using Karma's powerful officer tool, showing how powerful the cyber-weapons are in the hands of the world's superpowers and small nations.

The cyberspace has allowed the Gulf country to control hundreds of targets starting from 2016, Qatar's emir and Turkish top officials from the Nobel Peace Prize winner in Yemen, according to Reuters's five previous functions and software documents. . Reuters interview sources were not American citizens.

Karma has been using Abu Dhabi's cyber cyber-espionage division, consisting of American security officers and former US intelligence agents working for the UAE intelligence services. The existence of the Karma and Fraud Division, called Project Raven, has not been previously detected. Raven's activities are detailed in a separate story published today by Reuters.

Previously, Raven's employees described Karma as a tool that can be used to remotely control iPhone access by simply uploading phone numbers or email accounts in an automated target system. The device has limitations, it does not work on Android devices and does not intercept phone calls. However, it was unusually strong because, unlike many exploits, Karma does not require a target to click on the link sent to iPhone.

2016 and 2017 Karma has been used to retrieve targeted photos from iPhones, emails, text messages, and location information. The technique also helped hackers harvest passwords that could be used for other intrusions.

It is not clear whether the Karma mine is being used. Former operators have announced that until 2017, Finally, Apple's iPhone software updates make Karma much more productive.

Lori Stroud, who previously worked for the US National Security Agency, previously worked for the US National Security Agency, told Reuters after his karma was introduced in 2016. "It was like:" We have this new new exploitation that we have already purchased. Get us huge targets that have iPhones right now, "he said. "It was Christmas."

The Karma and Raven block reveals a growing cyber security competition with rivals such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE that compete for the most complex hacking tools and crew.

Carman's tools, which can simultaneously benefit hundreds of iPhones, placing data, photos and messages, especially those seeking cybercrime veterans. Former White House Chancellor Michael Daniel, under the auspices of US President Barack Obama, said only 10 countries, such as Russia, China and the United States and its most important allies, can develop such weapons.

Karma and similar tools make iPhones like "reaper targets," says Patrick Ward, former employee of the National Security Agency and Apple security expert.

The press secretary of the UAE Foreign Ministry refused to comment.

Apple refused to comment.

An Apple iMessage system error occurred
Formerly-born drinks say Karma has allowed operators to gather several targets, including government-critical activists from regional rivals, including Qatar and the UAE's ideological opponent, the Islamic political Muslim Brotherhood movement.

It also provides access to compromise and sometimes targeted sexual photos. The material was described in detail in Reuters, but the reporters did not check it out. Reuters has not seen any evidence that the UAE has leaked harmful substances discovered by Karma.

Raven is primarily a staff member of US intelligence community veterans who paid for the DarkMatter American Secret Security Company, according to Reuters' revised documents. The company has not responded to many emails and phone calls that require comment. NSA refused to comment on Project Raven.

The UAE government has bought karma from the country's salesman, according to operators. Reuters can not decide on the creator of the tool.

Operators knew how to use Karma to feed new targets every day in a system that requires almost no investment to reach the goal of the operative. However, users do not fully understand how the tool has been able to exploit Apple's vulnerability. People familiar with cyber espionage are of the opinion that it is not unusual at the intelligence agency where the operators are aware of the fact that engineers know about the internal work of the weapon.

Three former operators have announced that they understand Karma, at least partially due to the deficiency of Apple's messaging system iMessage. They said that the use of iMessage to allow malicious implantation allowed the phone owner to not use iMessage, which allows hackers to communicate with the device.

To initiate a compromise, Karma needed to send only a targeted message to a target hacking, and then the receiver did not require any action. Operators were unable to determine the vulnerability.

With the immediate knowledge of the deal, the person confirmed Karma's sale from an outsourer to the Emirates, his details and his knowledge of iMessage vulnerability.

The Raven team has successfully broken down hundreds of prominent Middle Eastern politicians and activists, and in some cases in Europe, according to former Raven operatives and software papers.

Yemen's "Iron Wife" is a target

In 2017, Karma operators used Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, as well as former Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alavi Ben Abdula. It's incomprehensible what materials were taken from their devices.

Simsek, who resigned from his position in early July, told Reuters that the cyber intruder on his cell phone was "terrible and very disturbing." Qatar, Oman, and Washington's embassies in Washington did not respond to numerous letters and called on politicians to comment on their country.

Raven also broke Bavalol Karman, a human rights activist known as the ironist in Yemen. He said he was targeted, believing he was selected because of the leadership of the Arab spring protest in Yemen, which emerged in the region in 2011 and led to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

For years, he has received double notices from the social media account, warning that he has taken away, Reuters reports. But the fact that the Americans helped him, the government controlled him, was shocking.

The Americans "expect protection from human rights defenders and provide them with all means of security and security," he said, "not in the hands of violent means to spy on activists and allow them to be allowed to their peoples."

© Thomson Reuters 2019

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