Stingray-Like Device Enables Blackmail In S. Africa

New submitter PalmAndy writes to note that: South African Police nabbed some criminals using an IMSI catcher device, similar to a Stingray, in Johannesburg. The article says that it was made in Israel and is worth $2 million. A follow-on story says that it was used for tender manipulation and blackmail of Government officials. A corrupt government official helped procure this device, which in theory is only sold to goverments."

Comments

Doesn't sound so bad

[wonkey_monkey]

A follow-on story says that it was used for tender manipulation

Ooh. That sounds kinda nice.

define "tender"

[Gravis Zero]

Tender

A call for tenders, or invitation to tender (ITT) (often called tender for short) is a special procedure for generating competing offers from different bidders looking to obtain an award of business activity in works, supply, or service contracts. They are usually preceded by a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ).

sounds like they used it to win government contracts and blackmail government officials that didn't play nice.

Dunno

[nospam007]

OK I know long cons need some investments, à la little fish to get a big fish, but a 2 million McGuffin just to maybe get something to blackmail is a bit far fetched IMHO.

Re:Dunno

[Barefoot Monkey]

The article says that it's worth $2 million, not that that is what it cost. Something like this needs to have a very large profit margin because of (1) a limited target audience and (2) the risk involved in needing to win a tender, which might not happen. So the actual cost is likely to be far less than $2 million. Besides, it's not unusual at all for large investments to be made in an attempt to win a tender, particularly when the investors are confident of winning, and the fact that the device itself can be used to manipulate the tender process if it doesn't go as planned no doubt boosted their confidence.

Sadly, the perception at the moment is that nearly all tender processes are manipulated, and that you can't win without doing something underhanded yourself.

Re:Dunno

[Barefoot Monkey]

That's true. I had skimmed the article and jumped to the false conclusion that they were blackmailing officials into accepting the use of the very device that was being used to blackmail them.

What it actually claims is that a "top gold industry businessman" and a "bank employee" imported this illegally from Israel, with the help of a "senior government official", in order to secure (through blackmail) lucrative government contracts that might otherwise not have been awarded to them ("multibillion-rand" according to TFA - so the pay-off was in excess of 80 times the cost of the device, even assuming that the device was paid at full price).

They were caught because they attempted to resell the device once they no longer needed it. Oops.

I'm looking forward to learning who these individuals are.

Unfortunately, if this implicates JZ in any way then the case might be dropped and the entire division of the police involved disbanded. Investigating corruption has been difficult since last time that happened.

Re:That's the appropriate use

[LaurenCates]

It's a large piece of gum, much as a "chiclet" is a small piece of gum.

How all that relates to terrorism is beyond me, though.

Re:"Stingray-like"

[GrumpySteen]

You fail to understand how language works.

The term "Stingray" has gotten lots of press while the phrase "IMSI-catcher" is unknown to most people. Relating a device to the most commonly known term for it is normal.

It's no different than Scotch tape being used to refer to any brand of cellophane tape and Kleenex being used to refer to any brand of facial tissue.

Good example for encryption

[jbmartin6]

Since this device was supposedly only available to governments (as if that somehow makes it OK), this is an interesting illustration of the objections in the US to teh plan to backdoor everyone's phone encryption. If the government has the ability, criminals will soon have it also.

Re:"Stingray-like"

[geekmux]

"Stingray" is a trademark name for a device that is generically called IMSI-catcher. You wouldn't call a smartphone an "iPhone-like device".

"Ignorance" is a term often used to describe those asking for a pair of Vise Grips to get a better hold on the power of brand marketing without being able to grasp the irony that they don't know the tool by any other name...

Re:"Stingray-like"

[rossdee]

Remember Steve Irwin - those things are deadly

New jobs

[johanw]

For security people scanning for these devices. I'm sure an "official" IMSI catcher detector will cost millions as well, however, there are free detection programs for rooted Android phones, like https://github.com/SecUpwN/And... and https://opensource.srlabs.de/p...