Bangladesh bought phone-hacking tools from Israel, documents show

[Black_cats]

Bangladesh bought phone-hacking tools from Israel, documents show

The country’s notorious paramilitary force, Rapid Action Battalion, was among those trained to extract data from mobile phones.

Bangladesh bought phone-hacking tools from Israel, documents show

The country’s notorious paramilitary force, RAB, was among those trained to extract data from mobile phones.

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Devices are displayed at the research lab of the Israeli firm Cellebrite's technology on November 9, 2016 in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva. It only takes a few seconds for an employee of Cellebrite's technology, one of the world's leading hacking companies, to take a locked smartphone and pull the data from it [Jack Guez/AFP]

By
Yarno Ritzen and
Al Jazeera Investigative Unit
8 Mar 2021

Documents obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) and Israeli newspaper Haaretz reveal how the Bangladesh government spent at least $330,000 on phone-hacking equipment made by an Israeli company, even though the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.

Developed by the Cellebrite security firm, UFED is a product that is capable of accessing and extracting data from a wide range of mobile phones. Its ability to hack encrypted phone data has worried civil rights campaigners, who have long called for its use to be more strictly regulated.

Bangladesh does not recognise the state of Israel, forbids trade with it and prevents its citizens from travelling there. The Muslim-majority country officially stands in solidarity with the Palestinians on the basis they are denied civil rights and live under Israeli military occupation.

It is unclear whether UFED was provided to Bangladesh directly by the Israeli company or via a Cellebrite subsidiary based elsewhere in the world, presumably with the intention to mask its origins.

In February, Al Jazeera revealed how the Bangladesh military in 2018 signed a contract to acquire mobile phone interception equipment from Israeli firm Picsix Ltd. In February 2019, Bangladeshi officers received training by Israeli intelligence experts in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

The Ministry of Defence in Bangladesh said the equipment, a passive mobile phone monitoring system called P6 Intercept, was made in Hungary and was purchased for use on United Nations missions – a claim that was rejected by the world body.

The contract listed the manufacturer of P6 Intercept as Picsix Ltd Hungary, yet no public record of such a company exists and all Picsix equipment is made in Israel.

Training in Singapore
The latest documents obtained by I-Unit, which Al Jazeera also found on the Bangladesh home ministry’s own website, relate to contracts signed in 2018 and 2019. They are from the Public Security Division, a department in the Ministry of Home Affairs that is in charge of domestic security and whose agencies include the Bangladesh police force and border guards.

The paperwork details how nine officers from the country’s Criminal Investigations Department were given the approval to travel to Singapore in February 2019 to receive training on UFED to allow them to unlock and extract data from mobile phones. It outlines how the Bangladeshi staff would ultimately qualify as Cellebrite Certified Operators and Cellebrite Certified Physical Analysts.

The documents also say the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a paramilitary force that has a well-documented record of abductions, torture and disappearances, would be trained on the usage of Cellebrite’s hacking systems under an ongoing project that began in 2019 and is set to be completed in June 2021.


The Bangladesh government appears to be investing heavily in electronic surveillance systems and the leaked documents also outline the use of a wide range of devices – from WiFi interceptors and surveillance drones to IMSI-catchers, a tool that emulates cell towers to trick cellular devices into revealing their locations and data.

The latest revelation that Bangladesh security services are being equipped with highly intrusive devices capable of accessing encrypted phones that contain private messages comes amid growing concerns over the country’s human rights record.

Bangladesh has faced international criticism over its 2018 Digital Security Act (DSA), which gives security forces broad powers to arrest and detain journalists and political activists who are critical of the state online.

Last week, ambassadors from 13 countries called for an urgent inquiry into the death of Mushtaq Ahmed, a writer who died on February 25 after being held for nine months without charge under the DSA for criticising, on Facebook, the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.


Halting exports to Bangladesh
Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer who has been fighting the export of Israeli defence technology that could be used for human rights violations – including in Hong Kong, where pro-democracy protesters in 2019 took to the streets for months – explained how intrusive the technologies that Bangladesh has bought from Israel really are.

“You’re able to take all information about the person’s life, about their relationships, medical records, name of friends and in the case of journalists the names of a source,” Mack told Al Jazeera.

“In the case of Hong Kong, the police used Cellebrite’s systems to access the phones of 4,000 protesters.”


Cellebrite eventually stopped its exports to Hong Kong after public outcry and a court case brought by Mack. Now, he is doing the same with Bangladesh. On Monday, Mack filed a petition with the Israeli courts, asking them to retract the export licenses of Cellebrite and Picsix to Bangladesh.

“Even if a company like Cellebrite or Picsix has branches operating in Singapore, it’s still under Israeli law,” Mack told Al Jazeera. “As long as the company is owned by Israeli citizens they need an export license from the Ministry of Defence.”

Mack argued that Israel uses the exports of these tools to build relationships with countries with poor human rights records such as Bangladesh, South Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.

“Exporting these tools is easier than, for example, selling Bangladesh Israeli rifles. These kinds of systems are less present and this is how Israel is able to create secret relationships with these countries,” Mack said.


“But it’s important to note that this is not a relationship between the Israeli people and the Bangladeshi people, or the Emirati people. It’s a relationship between the Israeli government and the local regime.

“This kind of relationship means that Israeli is helping local repression in many places around the world.”

I-Unit reached out to the Bangladesh Ministry of Home Affairs as well as Cellebrite. Neither provided any comments at the time of publication.

 

[bluesky]

Documents obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) and Israeli newspaper Haaretz reveal how the Bangladesh government spent at least $330,000 on phone-hacking equipment made by an Israeli company, even though the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.

BAL should ask its brats in the USA to file a case demanding a billion-dollar from Al-Jazeera for printing the real face of Hasina Bibi and her military colleagues. Her brat followers in the PDF should contribute to this BAL effort in the USA. There are hundreds of these brats in the PDF.

 

[Black_cats]

Bangladesh buys phone-hacking tools from Israel, despite Palestine row

Bangladesh buys phone-hacking tools from Israel, despite Palestine row

The Bangladesh government spent more than $330,000 on phone-hacking equipment made by an Israeli company, according to documents obtained by Al-Jazeera’s...

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A co-worker of Tashnuva Anan Shishir who claims to be Bangladesh's first transgender television news presenter takes her photograph using a mobile phone at a news studio in Dhaka on March 8, 2021. (AFP Photo)

BY DAILY SABAH
MAR 09, 2021 1:12 PM

The Bangladesh government spent more than $330,000 on phone-hacking equipment made by an Israeli company, according to documents obtained by Al-Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) and Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The move follows allegations made by the investigative team of the Doha-based media outlet which is accused Bangladesh of purchasing Israeli-made surveillance equipment that can be used to track and monitor hundreds of people's cellphones, in spite of Dhaka not recognizing Tel Aviv.

Al-Jazeera revealed Tuesday that UFED is a product that is capable of accessing and exporting data from mobile phones. The device is developed by the Cellebrite security firm found in Israel and currently based in the U.S.

state of Virginia. It is unclear whether UFED was provided to Bangladesh directly by the Israeli company or via a Cellebrite subsidiary based elsewhere in the world, presumably to mask its origins.

Bangladesh's policy toward Israel is highly visible, considering that Dhaka does not recognize the state of Israel, forbids trade with it and prevents its citizens from traveling there. Also, as a Muslim-majority country Bangladesh officially stands in solidarity with the Palestinians on the basis they are denied civil rights and live under Israeli military occupation, according to reports by Al-Jazeera.

Behind the invisible walls between the two countries, it is not the first time Bangladesh has done business with Israeli companies. The latest documents obtained by I-Unit, which Al-Jazeera also found on the Bangladesh home ministry’s website, related to contracts signed in 2018 and 2019. Documents show that the Bangladesh military in 2018 signed a contract to acquire mobile phone interception equipment from Israeli firm PICSIX Ltd. again in February 2019.

Bangladeshi officers received training from Israeli intelligence experts in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. The Ministry of Defence in Bangladesh said the equipment, a passive mobile phone monitoring system called P6 Intercept, was made in Hungary and was purchased for use on United Nations missions.

The contract listed the manufacturer of P6 Intercept as PICSIX Ltd Hungary, yet no public record of such a company exists, and all Picsix equipment is made in Israel. The paperwork details how nine officers from the country’s Criminal Investigations Department were approved to travel to Singapore in February 2019 to receive training on UFED to allow them to unlock and extract data from mobile phones. It outlines how the Bangladeshi staff would ultimately qualify as Cellebrite Certified Operators and Cellebrite Certified Physical Analysts.

The documents also say the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a paramilitary force that has a well-documented record of abductions, torture and disappearances, would be trained on the usage of Cellebrite’s hacking systems under an ongoing project that began in 2019 and is set to be completed in June 2021.

The Bangladesh government appears to be investing heavily in electronic surveillance systems and the leaked documents also outline the use of a wide range of devices – from WiFi interceptors and surveillance drones to IMSI-catchers, a tool that emulates cell towers to trick cellular devices into revealing their locations and data.

Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer who has been fighting the export of Israeli defense technology that could be used for human rights violations argued that Israel uses the exports of these tools to build relationships with countries with poor human rights records such as Bangladesh, South Sudan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“Exporting these tools is easier than, for example, selling Bangladesh Israeli rifles. These kinds of systems are less present, and this is how Israel is able to create secret relationships with these countries,” Mack said. “But it’s important to note that this is not a relationship between the Israeli people and the Bangladeshi people, or the Emirati people. It’s a relationship between the Israeli government and the local regime.

“This kind of relationship means that Israeli is helping local repression in many places around the world.”

 

[Black_cats]

BAL should ask its brats in the USA to file a case demanding a billion-dollar from Al-Jazeera for printing the real face of Hasina Bibi and her military colleagues. Her brat followers in the PDF should contribute to this BAL effort in the USA. There are hundreds of these brats in the PDF.

Al Jazeera I-unit has shared this doc for the purchase:

Bangladesh bought Cellebrite phone-hacking tools from Israel, documents show | Al Jazeera Investigative Unit

The country’s notorious paramilitary force, Rapid Action Battalion, was among those trained to extract data from mobile phones.

www.ajiunit.com

 

[Black_cats]

Ok, this time AJ didn't provide any evidence. Separated the relevant and irrelevant part in red and green. Looks like they are using the previous article to make this one credible somehow. Lots of stuff from previous investigation covers the most of this article and nothing much about new allegation. Does anyone have access to Haartez's article? Also where's the document from home ministry this time?

Israeli Cellebrite sold spy-tech to Bangladesh's Rapid Attack Battalion, called a 'death squad' by rights groups. Protesters in Dhaka this week demonstrate after a writer was allegedly killed by RAB MOHAMMAD PONIR HOSSAIN/ REUTE

Israeli Cellebrite Sold Spy-tech to Bangladesh ‘Death Squad’

The Rapid Action Battalion is accused of extrajudicial killings and torture of hundreds of civilians. Documents show they purchased Cellebrite’s phone-hacking tech and received training

Oded Yaron
Mar. 9, 2021 11:55 AM

Israeli phone-hacking firm Cellebrite sold its technology to Bangladesh’s notorious paramilitary unit, documents reveal.

The unit, known as the Rapid Action Battalion, has been called a “death squad” by rights groups and has faced allegations of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torturing civilians and journalists.

The sale was revealed as part of documents filed by a human rights lawyer to an Israeli court on Monday. The documents, submitted by lawyer Eitay Mack, were filed as part of an attempt to get the Defense Ministry to halt the tech firm’s exports to Bangladesh and explain their failure to do so in light of reports regarding misuse of Cellebrite’s UFED (Universal Forensic Extraction Device), a system that allows authorities to unlock and access the data of any phone in their possession.

The documents followed another filing, which the Defense Ministry did not respond to, that sought to halt the sale of technology from Celebrity and PicSix to the country after an Al Jazeera investigation revealed Bangladesh’s army bought phone hacking capabilities from them.

>> 'Bangladesh bought Israeli spytech, despite lack of diplomatic ties'

According to reports in Bangladesh, on May 7 a new budget was authorized for the purchase of an additional Cellebrite system for the RAB and per the documents filed to the Israeli court, it is not the first time the unit purchased the UFED.

Documents proving sale of Cellebrite technology
According to reports in Bangladesh, on May 7 a new budget was authorized for the purchase of an additional Cellebrite system for the RAB and per the documents filed to the Israeli court, it is not the first time the unit purchased the UFED.

Cellebrite’s phone-hacking technology is intended for law enforcement agencies and is sold across the world. However, critics have long slammed the company for selling its wares to states with poor human rights records, from Indonesia to Venezuela, to Saudi Arabia and Belarus.

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• Israeli Cyber Firm Sold Spytech to South Sudan, Investigation Finds
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“This is a very serious ‘error’ by the Defense Ministry,” the document by Mack and a long list of human rights activists says. “As Israel does not have diplomatic ties with Bangladesh and due to the repeated human rights infringements and wide-spread corruption in the country, there is no way for the ministry to actually oversee and control the use that is made of the Israeli systems in this country.”

Document revealed by Mack shows RAB officer was sent to train on how to use Cellebrite's system

“How is it possible that despite promises to ‘be sensitive and take into account human rights issues’, the ministry’s director general allows the sale of technology which breaks into phones to a security forces unit that is accused of torturing their victims by drilling holes into their head with an electric drill,” Mack asked in the filing.

As part of his investigation, Mack found, in wake of Al Jazeera documents proving Cellebrite was selling its technology to Bangladesh, that its technology had reached the RAB unit through representatives of the Israeli firm in Singapore. Officers from RAB were even sent to Singapore to undergo training on the system in 2018 and 2019.

Clashes between Bangladesh citizens and security forces in a protest over the death of a writer this year AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu
“Between January 2009 and until 2018, human rights groups in Bangladesh collected evidence indicating that 1,920 people were executed without trial and 129 died while being tortured,” Mack wrote. According to Amnesty International, in 2018 the RAB unit was responsible for 466 extrajudicial killings (more than three times those attributed to them the previous year). The report notes these are reported as gangland shootings in the country but are actually part of a wider crackdown conducted as part of the country’s war on local drug trade.

Mack also notes that the unit has also been accused of persecuting LGBTQs in Bangladesh.

“According to reports by Odhikar and OMCT, human rights groups in Bangladesh, the latter which represents over 200 anti-torture groups across the world, from July 2019, in recent years the Bangeldesh security forces have been accused of using drills to torutrue their vicitms, beatings, long detentions in subhuman conditions and even hanging people upside down,” Mack wrote, noting that there were also reports of victims being shot in their knees; having their testicles beaten; their fingernails pulled out; their heads held underwater; alongside sexual violence, threats of rape and rape itself. “Mock and real executions,” the document also noted.

Cellebrite refused to comment on the report and the specific claims it raised. Bangladesh did not respond to request for comment.

The Defense Ministry said in response to Mack's filing: “In regards to the allegations raised in your request, the Defense Ministry does not address specific details regarding specific export licences, due to security, diplomatic and strategic considerations. It is worth noting that the [body that overseas defense exports] is examining its policies together with the relevant bodies in a regular manner and in response to developments and in some cases does cancel or rescind licences."

Israeli Cellebrite sold spy-tech to Bangladesh ‘death squad’

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