I mentioned in Your assignment, should you choose to accept it…. that BAE Systems has been selling surveillance technology to the United Arab Emirate, the nice people behind the attempted hack of Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent human rights activist.
Since then, Joseph Cox posted: British Companies Are Selling Advanced Spy Tech to Authoritarian Regimes.
From his post:
Since early 2015, over a dozen UK companies have been granted licenses to export powerful telecommunications interception technology to countries around the world, Motherboard has learned. Many of these exports include IMSI-catchers, devices which can monitor large numbers of mobile phones over broad areas.
Some of the UK companies were given permission to export their products to authoritarian states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Egypt; countries with poor human rights records that have been well-documented to abuse surveillance technology.
“At a time when the use of these surveillance tools is still highly controversial in the UK, it is completely unacceptable that companies are allowed to export the same equipment to countries with atrocious human rights records or which lack rule of law altogether. There is absolutely a clear risk that these products can be used for repression and abuses,” Edin Omanovic, research officer at Privacy International, told Motherboard in an email.
…
Joseph’s report explains the technology and gives examples of some of the sales to the worst offenders. He also includes a link to the dataset of export sales.
Joseph obtained a list of the exporters from the UK Department for International Trade. But that list is included as an image. I created this HTML list from that image:
- BAE Systems Applied Intelligence Limited
- BN Security and Defense Solutions Ltd
- Cellxion Ltd
- Cobham TCS Limited (now DTC)
- Comstrac Limited
- CRFS Limited
- Domo Tactical Communications (DTC) Limited
- Gamma TSE Limited
- Horizon Technologies Consultants Limited
- Megablue Technologies Limited (website says DNA-Tracker)
- Prestige Security Management Limited
- Pro-Solve International Limited
- QCC Global Limited
- Seven Technologies Group Limited
- Smith Myers Communications Ltd
- TGL Services (UK) Limited (no website but I did find company information)
- TRL Technology Limited
In an attempt to seem fierce, Cellxion Ltd has this unfriendly greeting at the bottom of their public homepage:
Your IP address, [**.**.**.**], has been recorded and all activity on this system is actively monitored. Under US Federal Law (18 U.S.C. 1030), United Kingdom Law (Computer Misuse Act 1990) and other international law it is a criminal offence to access or attempt to access this computer system without prior written authorisation from cellXion ltd. Any unauthorised attempt to access this system will be reported to the appropriate authorities and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Your IP address has been recorded and all activity on this system is actively monitored. Under US Federal Law (18 U.S.C. 1030), United Kingdom Law (Computer Misuse Act 1990) and other international law it is a criminal offence to access or attempt to access this computer system without prior written authorisation from cellXion ltd. Any unauthorised attempt to access this system will be reported to the appropriate authorities and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. (emphasis added, I obscured my IP number)
What does Dogbert say? Oh, yeah,
Cellxion, kiss my wager!
As you already know, use TAILS, Tor and VPN as you pursue these leads.
Good hunting!