It is nothing new that Anonymous and other hacktivists do not like Israel or Saudi Arabia, however they have always been targeted separately. That may change over the coming weeks. A recent report published by Haaretz has revealed the Israel technology company NSO Group Technologies met with high ranking Saudi officials in Vienna, Austria last year to negotiate the sale of their Pegasus 3 software. Pegasus 3 is a highly sophisticated espionage tool which requires no action of the victim’s part to install itself on their phone and steal data. While NSO Group maintains that their software was developed in accordance with international law and is intended only for use in criminal investigations and for combating terrorism, that does not mean that their customers strictly follow those same guidelines. Many find it a little too convenient that shortly following the meetings, the crown prince began remove people from power who could pose a political threat.
Analyst Notes
Even though NSO Group is not an Israeli government organization, it will likely not stop hacktivists from still targeting Israel in retaliation and use this report to combine the OpSaudi and OpIsrael campaigns.
