Why did the FBI hire this contractor for sensitive information-gathering operations outside the United States? And why was there apparently so little oversight? Who paid for a mysterious spy tool? the FBI, an FBI inquiry found:
7 min readWhen The New York Times reported in April that a contractor had purchased and deployed a spying tool made by NSO, the contentious Israeli hacking firm, for use by the U.S. government, White House officials said they were unaware of the contract and put the FBI in charge of figuring out who might have been using the technology.The deal for the surveillance tool between the contractor, Riva Networks, and NSO was completed in November 2021.
The episode further illustrates how, even as the White House tries to crack down on foreign spyware firms, NSO continued to find ways to make money off its tools.Riva Networks and its CEO, Robin Gamble, did not respond to several requests for comment on the FBI’s accusations. When a Times reporter went to an address the company lists in some public records, a person who answered said he had never heard of Gamble. He refused to provide his name before closing the door.
The bureau told its contractors, including Riva, that they could not use NSO products in 2021, the official said, adding that no data from Landmark ever made it back to the FBI — at least based on what Riva Networks told the agency. It is not unusual for the FBI, as well as other law enforcement agencies, to use contractors that provide technologies such as breaking into phones after a terrorist attack. The intelligence community also relies on contractors for certain abilities.
The FBI’s relationship with the company also goes back several years. In fact, the bureau used Riva Networks to purchase Pegasus, which penetrates phones and extracts their contents without users’ knowledge. The bureau paid more than $5 million to test the spyware from 2019 to 2021, and officials discussed using it as part of their investigations before ultimately deciding against it.
Unlike Pegasus, Landmark does not penetrate and extract data from cellphones. Instead, it tracks the location of individual people based on which cell tower their phone is communicating with.
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