Malaysia, Israel, Greece... Who else is involved in this web of surveillance?
According to the human rights organization Amnesty International , Indonesia secretly acquires spyware through a complex network of intermediaries stretching from Israel to Greece, Singapore and Malaysia. The organization claims that its investigation revealed a systemic problem: many countries cannot properly regulate and ensure transparency in the export of dual-use technologies. We are talking about surveillance programs, as well as the equipment on which they are placed. The use of such technologies poses a serious threat to human rights.
During the investigation, Amnesty International experts used open sources of intelligence, including commercial trading bases and infrastructure mapping, to track purchases between 2017 and 2023. The buyers were identified as the Indonesian National Police and the National Cybersecurity and Cryptography Agency.
The suppliers were Q Cyber Technologies, a company associated with the infamous NSO Group, a consortium of Intellexa, Saito Tech (aka Candiru), FinFisher and its "daughter" Raedarius M8, and Wintego Systems.
However, purchases were often made in a roundabout way through intermediary organizations created under the guise of nominal secretaries. Identifying the true owners of such firms was extremely difficult, especially in offshore zones like Singapore.
"When the real owners are hidden by such methods, it becomes almost impossible to monitor the supply chains of dual-use goods. This seriously complicates public control over public procurement," the investigation notes.
Moreover, the nonprofit organization found that individual spyware platforms were linked to domains and infrastructure used for malicious purposes. "Among these malicious domains were sites that mimic the resources of opposition political parties, as well as major national and local media outlets, including those from the provinces of Papua and West Papua, that cover cases of human rights violations," the human rights activists write.
Despite media references to West Papua, which has long been subject to a separatist standoff, Amnesty acknowledged that it has no data on specific individuals who may have been subjected to surveillance. Nor is there any direct evidence that these technologies were used against individuals. However, such super-secrecy may well be part of the developers plan.
Experts point out that Indonesia simply does not have effective regulations that could prevent the misuse of spyware.
The investigation was conducted with the participation of a number of other organizations, including Israel's Haaretz, Australia's Inside Story, Indonesia's Tempo, the WAV research team, and Woz.
https://carder.market/login/
