Israel was allegedly behind the Stingray spy devices discovered around Washington, D.C. in 2017, according to an explosive new report from Politico, which notes that they were primarily intended to spy on President Donald Trump and his associates. The Israeli government denies the charge, but Politico’s sources include at least three unnamed former U.S. officials who “served in top intelligence and national security posts.”
The U.S. government acknowledged in early 2018 that the Department of Homeland Security found illicit Stingrays near the White House and across other locations in Washington, but at that time no one knew who had planted the espionage devices. Stingrays are briefcase-sized electronics that spy on mobile phones by mimicking cell towers, tricking smartphones into giving the Stingray installer a lot of information. Some Stingrays can even intercept calls by forcing the call onto 2G, which is unencrypted.
The Trump regime has reportedly not done anything about the alleged espionage on American soil, though it’s believed that U.S. intelligence agencies are routinely spying on the Israeli government as well.
Stingrays, also known as IMSI catchers because they identify devices by International Mobile Subscriber Identity, are controversial as a law enforcement tool. American police and federal U.S. authorities sometimes use Stingrays to track down suspects, though the legality of their use is still in question and agencies are reluctant to talk about them openly.
Read the article by Matt Novak on Gizmodo.