A recent investigation revealed that the FBI fumbled slightly about the use of a computer tool developed by a company that the institution had blacklisted itself.
The American intelligence service is at the heart of a controversy. During some of its operations, the FBI used a surveillance tool developed by an Israeli company specializing in hacking, NSO. Problem: Federal law prohibited them from using it. How could such an error occur?
A questionable surveillance tool
The tool concerned is called “Landmark” (landmark in French), was purchased and deployed in November 2021 by an FBI subcontractor in November 2021. The company in question, RIVA Networks, is based in New Jersey and was useful to the FBI to closely monitor drug dealers and fugitives located in Mexico. It specialized in exploiting vulnerabilities in the Mexican telephone network to recover crucial information.
The concern is that NSO was blacklisted by the Department of Commerce when it was acquired by RIVA Networks. American companies therefore no longer had the right to enter into contracts with the Israeli company. For what ? Because the spyware developed by NSO has been hijacked many times by foreign governments around the world. Despite this prohibition, the use of Landmark allowed the FBI to track and monitor individuals without their consent anywhere in Mexico.
Questions that remain unanswered
This recent revelation still raises several questions, including one main one: why is the FBI not more vigilant about contracting with its subcontractors? From the moment that RIVA Network began to collaborate with the federal agency, shouldn’t it exercise more supervision over the company’s work processes? This is due to a certain form of negligence on the part of an institution responsible for such an important mission as internal security.
A blur still remains on the details of this operation and this case proves one thing, it is that the White House does not yet have total control over the use of spyware provided by foreign companies. NSO, despite the ban, has managed to profit from its tool. For the moment, the company’s general manager, Robin Gamble, has not spoken on the subject.
Source : The New York Times
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