World leaders fight over cyber weapons | Episode 2
Last November (2021), the US blacklisted the NSO group. The list was originally created to prevent American companies from selling anything to nations or organizations involved in the production of lethal weapons. In recent times, various cyber weapon manufacturing companies have been added to this list. NSO will no longer be able to source any of the raw materials they need from American companies.
It was a public rebuke for the company, which is in many ways the middleman of Israel's defense sector. As they were not allowed to use American technology, they had to do the work of managing Dell computers or Amazon cloud servers themselves. This threatens the entire functioning of the company. The US sent the news to Israel's Ministry of Defense less than half an hour before it was published. Israeli officials were furious. Media headlines started pouring in about the out-of-control privately-owned company, which was based in Israel but was largely invested from outside or through offshore funds. But Israeli authorities reacted as if the ban was a blow to the state itself. Yigal Unna, director general of Israel's National Cyber Directorate until January 5, said,
Those who are shooting arrows at the NSO are actually shooting at the blue and white flag hanging behind it.
One reason for Israel's anger was America's hypocrisy. After years of US secretive testing of NSO products on its soil, at least one country has supplied them to Djibouti, which has been accused of human rights abuses. Then imposed this ban. Besides, Israel's own interests are also involved here. As part of Israel's internal export licensing process, the state alone has the final say on who NSO can sell products to. Israel has thereby used NSOK as a central part of its national security strategy for years. At the same time, other countries around the world are using the company as a tool to protect Israel's interests.
A year-long New York Times investigation has revealed how whether or not the NSO's use of cyber-weapons plays a role in Israeli diplomacy. The investigation included interviews with dozens of government officials, intelligence and law enforcement leaders, businessmen and privacy activists from various countries. Countries such as Mexico and Panama have been pro-Israel in several key UN votes, gaining the ability to use Pegasus. The Times report also highlights how Pegasus has played an invisible but important role in supporting Arab nations behind Israel's stance against Iran. Even in 2020, Pegasus played a role in the diplomatic agreement between Israel and its long-time adversary Arab countries through the Abraham Accords. Israel's desire to become influential and the NSO's efforts to raise profits, powerful spying devices are falling into the hands of a new generation of nationalist leaders worldwide. The purpose of the Israeli government's oversight was to ensure that the spyware was not sold in places where repressive activities could be carried out against the population. But Pegasus has been sold in countries like Poland, Hungary, India. These countries have a questionable role in protecting human rights.
The US has officially banned the company but secretly tested and developed its technologies. The current positions of the United States and Israel on NSOs indicate that their governments are treating cyber weapons as they once did military fighter jets. It is not only used for national defense, but also serves as a currency to purchase licenses for global influence.
Selling arms through diplomatic channels has long been a practice in international politics. According to information leaked by WikiLeaks in 2010, US embassy officials in foreign countries have for years acted as sales representatives for arms manufacturing companies, so that those countries could buy weapons from American companies. When American defense ministers would meet with their counterparts in an ally, the outcome of their discussions would be a deal to buy new weapons. This would have benefited arms manufacturing companies like Lockheed Martin or Raytheon.
More than any other technological development since the advent of the atomic bomb, cyberweapons have profoundly changed the relations of international politics. In some cases it is deeply destabilizing. Cyber weapons are relatively cheap, easy to deliver and can be deployed in such a way that the attacker does not suffer any consequences. The proliferation of cyber weapons is changing inter-state relations. Israel discovered this long ago. Now other nations are realizing it. For Israel, the arms trade has always been central to the country's survival. It was an important driver of the country's economic progress, which could also be spent on military research. But at the same time it also played a role in forming alliances against their hostile neighbors. When the country was young and powerless in the 1950s, its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, established secret connections with countries outside the hostile Arab states that surrounded Israel. He named this approach 'periphery doctrine'.
Its intelligence agency Mossad, which operates outside Israel's borders, has developed secret networks within countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Several of these countries were openly pro-Arab. It was possible to build such a communication system by supplying these countries with advanced weapons. In the mid-eighties, Israel became one of the world's leading arms exporters. One in ten workers in the country was involved in the arms manufacturing industry in some way. As a result, Israel has become a favorite of certain world leaders. They considered the weapons supplied by Israel to enrich their arsenals and sustain their power. In return, these countries supported Israel in the UN Security Council, General Assembly and various international forums. They also allow the Mossad and Israel Defense Forces to use military bases in their countries to conduct operations against Arab countries.
A different kind of industry has developed in Israel as cyber weapons have become more important to military planners than fighter jets. Zhanu staff at Unit 8200, Israel's equivalent of the National Security Agency, have built a multibillion-dollar cybersecurity industry in the private sector. Like conventional arms dealers, companies that build cyber weapons need permission from Israel's Ministry of Defense to sell products abroad. This gives the government an opportunity to exert influence over arms manufacturing companies and, in some cases, buyer countries.
