Exxon Lobbyist Investigated Over 'Hack-and-Leak' of Environmentalist Emails (reuters.com)
(Monday December 02, 2024 @03:34AM (EditorDavid)
from the bcc dept.)
- Reference: 0175576925
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/12/02/0510212/exxon-lobbyist-investigated-over-hack-and-leak-of-environmentalist-emails
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-lobbyist-investigated-over-hack-and-leak-environmentalist-emails-sources-2024-11-27/
America's FBI "has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant," [1]reports Reuters , "over the contractor's alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company's biggest critics, according to three people familiar with the matter."
> The operation involved mercenary hackers who successfully breached the email accounts of environmental activists and others, the sources told Reuters. The scheme allegedly began in late 2015, when U.S. authorities contend that the names of the hacking targets were compiled by the DCI Group, a public affairs and lobbying company working for Exxon at the time, one of the sources said. DCI provided the names to an Israeli private detective, who then outsourced the hacking, according to the source.
>
> In an effort to push a narrative that Exxon was the target of a political vendetta aimed at destroying its business, some of the stolen material was subsequently leaked to the media by DCI, Reuters determined. The Federal Bureau of Investigation found that DCI shared the information with Exxon before leaking it, the source said. Some environmental activists interviewed by Reuters say the hacking operation disrupted preparations for lawsuits by cities and state attorneys general against Exxon and other energy companies... The stolen material continues to be used today to counter litigation claiming the oil giant misled the public and its investors about the risks of climate change...
>
> The investigation into the hack-and-leak operation comes amid growing concern among law enforcement agencies worldwide about how such [2]cyberespionage schemes threaten to taint judicial proceedings . The FBI has been investigating the broader use of mercenary hackers to tamper with lawsuits since early 2018, [3]Reuters has previously reported . The Israeli private detective hired by DCI, Amit Forlit, was [4]arrested this year at London's Heathrow Airport and [5]is fighting extradition to the United States on charges of hacking and wire fraud... Federal prosecutors have secured a related conviction: that of Forlit's former business associate, private investigator Aviram Azari. Azari [6]pleaded guilty in 2022 to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit hacking and aggravated identity theft, which included targeting the environmental activists.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-lobbyist-investigated-over-hack-and-leak-environmentalist-emails-sources-2024-11-27/
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-uk-watchdogs-say-hackers-for-hire-are-targeting-law-firms-2023-06-28/
[3] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-hackers-litigation/
[4] https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-private-eye-arrested-uk-over-alleged-hacking-us-pr-firm-2024-05-02/
[5] https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-private-eye-appears-london-court-over-alleged-hacking-offences-2024-07-26/
[6] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-charged-global-hacker-for-hire-scheme-pleads-guilty-2022-04-20/
> The operation involved mercenary hackers who successfully breached the email accounts of environmental activists and others, the sources told Reuters. The scheme allegedly began in late 2015, when U.S. authorities contend that the names of the hacking targets were compiled by the DCI Group, a public affairs and lobbying company working for Exxon at the time, one of the sources said. DCI provided the names to an Israeli private detective, who then outsourced the hacking, according to the source.
>
> In an effort to push a narrative that Exxon was the target of a political vendetta aimed at destroying its business, some of the stolen material was subsequently leaked to the media by DCI, Reuters determined. The Federal Bureau of Investigation found that DCI shared the information with Exxon before leaking it, the source said. Some environmental activists interviewed by Reuters say the hacking operation disrupted preparations for lawsuits by cities and state attorneys general against Exxon and other energy companies... The stolen material continues to be used today to counter litigation claiming the oil giant misled the public and its investors about the risks of climate change...
>
> The investigation into the hack-and-leak operation comes amid growing concern among law enforcement agencies worldwide about how such [2]cyberespionage schemes threaten to taint judicial proceedings . The FBI has been investigating the broader use of mercenary hackers to tamper with lawsuits since early 2018, [3]Reuters has previously reported . The Israeli private detective hired by DCI, Amit Forlit, was [4]arrested this year at London's Heathrow Airport and [5]is fighting extradition to the United States on charges of hacking and wire fraud... Federal prosecutors have secured a related conviction: that of Forlit's former business associate, private investigator Aviram Azari. Azari [6]pleaded guilty in 2022 to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit hacking and aggravated identity theft, which included targeting the environmental activists.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-lobbyist-investigated-over-hack-and-leak-environmentalist-emails-sources-2024-11-27/
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-uk-watchdogs-say-hackers-for-hire-are-targeting-law-firms-2023-06-28/
[3] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-hackers-litigation/
[4] https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-private-eye-arrested-uk-over-alleged-hacking-us-pr-firm-2024-05-02/
[5] https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-private-eye-appears-london-court-over-alleged-hacking-offences-2024-07-26/
[6] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-charged-global-hacker-for-hire-scheme-pleads-guilty-2022-04-20/
Oil company leak (Score:2)
by Powercntrl ( 458442 )
At least it wasn't oil for once.
It's easy. (Score:1)
In the past six months or so, I've come to a simple conclusion. Whenever someone who is against the political or corporate establishment is subject to character assassination, that means it was enemy action. It's just that simple. Real people would explain how they were wrong, and make arguments against it. But "you're a crazy person" or "you cheated on a test in the second grade" aren't arguments and never will be. This razor works remarkably well and is repeatable everywhere. Personal attacks aren't ar
Re: (Score:2)
George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-four" warned us all about these tactics back in 1949. The most common way to bring down people who are already in the public spotlight is accusations of sexual misconduct. They don't have to be true but all too often, among powerful men, they are. But it's selective justice, directed only at those who stand in the way of what even more powerful people want, e.g. Managing Director of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in 2011 or order to replace him with the more "Washington fr