Ex-NSA American mercenaries for UAE used 'Karma' to hack journalists and human rights activists

Former NSA spies have been working for the government of the United Arab Emirates as hacker mercenaries, helping the UAE attack journalists, dissidents, and human rights activists. This is a great read, and a shocking story from Reuters.

With the help of former U.S. intelligence operatives, United Arab Emirates hacked into the iPhones of activists, diplomats, and foreign adversaries. Targeted in the attacks: the former deputy prime minister of Turkey, a Qatari emir, and a Nobel Laureate of Yemen.

Joel Schectman and Christopher Bing of Reuters report that the UAE's use of the spying tool 'Karma' in 2016 shows how potent cyber-weapons are proliferating beyond the worlds superpowers and into the hands of smaller nations:

The cyber tool allowed the small Gulf country to monitor hundreds of targets beginning in 2016, from the Emir of Qatar and a senior Turkish official to a Nobel Peace laureate human-rights activist in Yemen, according to five former operatives and program documents reviewed by Reuters. The sources interviewed by Reuters were not Emirati citizens.

Karma was used by an offensive cyber operations unit in Abu Dhabi comprised of Emirati security officials and former American intelligence operatives working as contractors for the UAEs intelligence services. The existence of Karma and of the hacking unit, code named Project Raven, havent been previously reported. Ravens activities are detailed in a separate story published by Reuters today.

The ex-Raven operatives described Karma as a tool that could remotely grant access to iPhones simply by uploading phone numbers or email accounts into an automated targeting system.