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Saudi Arabia Almost Bought Hacking Team

Posted by samzenpus on from the putting-a-team-together dept.

itwbennett writes: If hacked emails posted by WikiLeaks are to be believed, the Saudi Arabian government came close to buying control of Italian surveillance software company Hacking Team, Philip Wilan reports. 'The negotiations were handled by Wafic Said, a Syrian-born businessman based in the U.K. who is a close friend of the Saudi royal family, and also involved Ronald Spogli, a former U.S. ambassador to Italy, who had an indirect investment in Hacking Team,' writes Wilan. The deal collapsed in early 2014.

26 comments

  1. why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why would they buy it other than to bait them

    1. Re:why? by Spazmania · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Saudi Arabia almost buys a lot of stuff. When it comes time to actually put money on the table after endless demos and enthusiastic discussions, the deals suddenly sour. It's their way.

      --
      Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
    2. Re:why? by timrod · · Score: 4, Informative

      They'd buy it because of their horrible track record on human rights. The Saudi government is about to execute a man for participating in the Arab Spring protests.. that, and because his uncle isn't from the same side of Islam as the current regime. Protests like the ones they're sentencing someone to death for often get organized online over social media - and what better way to quash dissent than to monitor social media and put spyware on the computers of anyone even suspected of planning a protest, then jail and/or murder them to silence them?

      Even if the Saudi government did not use it for some reason, there are plenty of regimes in the Middle East (Iran, for one) that would be happy to purchase such software from the Saudi government in order to crack down on their own dissidents, especially considering that the United States and Europe would have qualms about selling to them.

    3. Re:why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Iran buying things from Saudi Arabia? That's like the USA buying things from USSR, i.e. with great distrust.

    4. Re:why? by Earthquake+Retrofit · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not just executing, but beheading AND crucifixion. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09... How very civilized.

      --
      Fifty years of Yippie! 1968-2018
    5. Re:why? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2

      Haha yes, and not only Saudi Arabia, everyone in the region is like that.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    6. Re:why? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      They'd buy it because of their horrible track record on human rights.

      This looks like a good place to leave a comment with my initial reaction to reading the headline. When Saudi Arabia buys Hacking Team, Saudi Arabia really buys Hacking Team. That makes the "In Soviet Russia" gag look positively tame.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > United States and Europe would have qualms about selling to them.

      Are these the same govs that sell weapons to the Saudis ?

    8. Re:why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not Israel. We buy stuff. Tech is the name of the game here, although we create our own hacking teams /> *Awaiting irrelevant & offensive Israel/Palestine conflict flame troll comment*

    9. Re:why? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      True enough, Israel is indeed somewhat more civilised, but I had the similar crap from a customer from Israel as well. Being surrounded by Arabs apparently rubs off.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    10. Re:why? by Xest · · Score: 1

      When the UEA was hacked and the "Climategate" e-mails leaked, it was just before and important global warming conference involving pretty much every country in the world.

      Rumour at the time was that it was either Russia, or Saudi Arabia, both significant petro states with a firm interest in trying to keep everyone consuming oil and put a stop to this talk of moving to renewables and green energy.

      If true, it's possible that Saudi hacking actions and ambitions reach far beyond merely oppressing their own populace and subverting their human rights. Such a purchase could've been as much about crippling their arch enemy Iran's critical digital infrastructure, carrying out actions to manipulate oil prices as much as dealing with people internal to the state.

  2. Re:WikiLeaks, more like WikiTinfoils by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MRA? Magnetic resonance angiography?

  3. So, why did the successor specifically disapprove by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did he realize the ramifications of an overt open-market purchase like that, as opposed to more surreptitious means of leveraging their services?

    Was the price/earnings off by enough to make a sultan balk? Did they scoff at the number of 0-days compared to their own inventory?

    Get in there, Vice!

  4. Interesting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    *crickets*

  5. Jason Whitaker by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 1

    of Temecula California almost bought a Hoover Power Scrub Deluxe from Walmart.

    --
    We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
    1. Re:Jason Whitaker by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      So ambiguous... did he buy it from another store instead? Did he buy another vacuum from Walmart instead? Did he buy another vacuum from another store? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!

  6. Re:So, why did the successor specifically disappro by sexconker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Saudis like to flash their cash, not spend it.
    I bet the "negotiation" went like this:

    Said! What's the internet? Do I need to control it? Go buy me someone who can control the internet for me, then buy me the internet.

    OK BOSS!
    Hey, Hacking Team, I'm Said a friend of the royal Saudi family. The king dickshit wants to buy you!

    How much? What do we have to do?

    King dickshit has very many billions of dollars and will pay you any price! All you have to do is be our slaves, essentially.

    How many billions, exactly?

    Boss! They want to know how many billions you'll give them!

    What? Are you still talking about that internet thing? I'm bored of that, go buy me another solid gold horse, I have a formal engagement tonight and I need to look fashionable!

  7. Re:WikiLeaks, more like WikiTinfoils by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 0

    MRA? Magnetic resonance angiography?

    MILFs, Ready, Able...
    This is something I can really get behind!

    --
    You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  8. Re:So, why did the successor specifically disappro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Saudis like to flash their cash, not spend it.

    They are aware that their cash is oil dependent, which will not last forever.

    Reminds me of when I asked someone why people were not begging from the rich people with nice cars... "because if they gave money way, how could they afford such nice cars?!?"

  9. Hacking Team is their name, clever! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Almost as good as instantly recognizable ACME Hacking Team!

  10. Wafic Said, al-Yamamah & Oxford Business Schoo by illtud · · Score: 1

    Just in case you're not familiar with the name:

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk/...
    http://www.theguardian.com/wor...
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    If you have access to 80s & 90s UK newspaper archives, there are many more contemporary reports which are interesting reading.

  11. Re:So, why did the successor specifically disappro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Saudis like to flash their cash, not spend it.

    They are aware that their cash is oil dependent, which will not last forever.

    Not last forever...ah, so THAT must be the reason they blow so much of it on shit like solid gold toilets and crystal-encrusted cars.

    Fucking please. This is like claiming Apple should be cautious because money is tight right now and there's not much left in the bank.

  12. Re:WikiLeaks, more like WikiTinfoils by davester666 · · Score: 1

    I prefer facing the challenge.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  13. Re:So, why did the successor specifically disappro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People like the Saudis dont care about getting the right people - setting an example is enough and they hope scares enuff people into following other leaders.

  14. Re:So, why did the successor specifically disappro by unixisc · · Score: 2

    Saudis like to flash their cash, not spend it.

    They spend it all right. On luxury getaways on the Mediterranean, palaces within their own country, whatever floats their boats. Also, they use it to buy women that they can fuck, and toss away whenever they feel like it. If one is a foreigner in their country - not just KSA but also UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, et al, they're out of luck, since they have to surrender their passports to their employers, and effectively become slaves.

    Oh, the other major thing they do - build mosques anywhere and everywhere, regardless of whether or not there are Muslims there who'd be there to use them. Like right now, you have all those Syrian Muslim refugees going to Europe, and what do the Saudis offer? Rather than offering to take them in themselves as their own slaves, they are willing to fund mosques in Europe so that these refugees can continue to follow Islam, and maybe do some more Charlie Hebdo style attacks

    So far, they have nothing to worry about. Until the day we somehow figure out a way to have a car run on solar 24 hrs a day, and not need gasoline any more.