(Ken Silva, Headline USA) When members of Congress questioned FBI Director Chris Wray in December 2021 about his bureau’s use of controversial hacking tools created by the Israeli spy firm NSO Group, Wray said the FBI only purchased technology from NSO for research-and-development purposes—“to be able to figure out how bad guys could use it, for example,” he said at the time.
But Wray’s statement was misleading, at best.
The month before, the FBI contractor Riva Networks had already signed a deal with NSO to use a hacking tool called Landmark, which allows users to track the location of targets, according to a Monday article in the New York Times. Moreover, the FBI contractor’s agreement with NSO reportedly came mere days after the Biden White House placed the Israeli spyware firm on a blacklist over the abuse of its surveillance software.
The FBI, which was reportedly working with Riva to track criminals in Mexico, said it wasn’t aware of its contractor’s relationship with NSO.
“The FBI now says that it used the tool unwittingly and that Riva Networks misled the bureau,” NYT reported Monday, adding that Wray terminated the FBI’s contract with Riva once he discovered its partnership with NSO in April.
The FBI told NYT that it did not receive any data collected by Riva using NSO’s tools—at least not that it’s aware of.
“As part of our mission, the F.B.I. is tasked with locating fugitives around the world who are charged in U.S. courts, including for violent crimes and drug trafficking,” the FBI said in a statement to NYT.
“To accomplish this, the F.B.I. regularly contracts with companies who can provide technological assistance to locate these fugitives who are hiding abroad,” the bureau said.
“The F.B.I. has not employed foreign commercial spyware in these or any other operational endeavors. This geolocation tool did not provide the F.B.I. access to an actual device, phone or computer. We will continue to lawfully utilize authorized tools to protect Americans and bring criminals to justice.”
But NYT rightly noted that the FBI already used Riva in 2019 to secretly purchase another NSO tool, Pegasus—the same tool the Saudi Arabian government allegedly used to target Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi.
The newspaper further noted that Riva has contracts with other government agencies, including the Defense Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It’s unclear whether those other agencies were aware of Riva’s partnership with NSO, or if they used the controversial Israeli spyware.
It’s also not clear whether the Biden administration will act against Riva for partnering with NSO after the Israeli company was blacklisted. The White House reportedly declined to comment on this question.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
