Tal Hanan former Israeli special forces agent, hackers decide governments
They say they rigged 33 elections around the world. Successfully, in 27 of these cases. Their code name is Team Jorge and their guide is Tal Hanan: 50 years old, former Tel Aviv special forces agent. They are Israeli hackers. They offer clients from all over the world very special services: cyber attacks, spreading false news and disinformation, monitoring the communications of political leaders and their assistants, hacking emails, espionage, identity substitutions, targeted campaigns on social networks.
All, of course, for a fee: at the service of those who want to secretly influence the outcome of political elections, referendums and other democratic processes. This is what emerges from a months-long international investigation, coordinated by the French investigative collective "Forbidden Stories", which brings together 30 newspapers from various countries, including Radio France, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, El Pais, Le Monde.
The journalists pretended to be potential customers and contacted Team Jorge. The Israeli group therefore illustrated its capabilities to them: hacking Google accounts, spying on and manipulating communication software, even if encrypted, withdrawing bank documents, activating an army of "avatars" on social networks. It may be to boast, but Jorge claims to have "intervened in 33 presidential election campaigns". Of these, 27 would be "successful". In Europe, the company allegedly intervened in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, which was not recognized by the Spanish government. Among the operations claimed: in Kenya on the presidential elections, in Indonesia on an electoral commission, in California on unspecified activities.
"They have sown chaos in democracies around the world," writes the Israeli business newspaper The Marker, from the Haaretz group. The group says it uses software for spreading disinformation through fake social profiles: it's called Aims, which stands for Advanced Impact Media Solutions, and is owned by Team Jorge himself. It was allegedly sold to "intelligence firms, political parties and private companies" in Africa, South and Central America, the United States and Europe. The software creates and monitors fake profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram and YouTube. Virtual profiles that are not easily unmasked, if it is true that the "avatars" have an Amazon account, credit cards and cryptocurrency wallets: everyone has their own "personal" digital history and imitates human behavior thanks to the use of artificial intelligence.
But the tactics used by the team are varied and adapt to the circumstances. In one case, reports the Guardian, the group "sent a sex toy via Amazon to the home of a politician, with the aim of giving his wife the false impression that she was having an affair". All this information was collected in particular by three investigative journalists, from Radio France, Haaretz and The Marker, who pretended to be consultants in the service of an entity that wanted to postpone the elections in "a politically unstable African country". The three met Team Jorge between July and December 2022, both online and in person at an office about 30 kilometers from Tel Aviv. And they filmed the meetings.
During which Tal Hanan said he operates from 6 offices in different parts of the world, through operatives with experience in government agencies and experts in finance, social media and "psychological warfare". In describing himself to (fake) potential clients, Hanan said: "Right now we are involved in an election in Africa, we have an operational team in Greece and one in the Emirates." Then he added that he was working on two "projects" in the United States, but without any direct involvement in American politics.
It's still. "I know that in some countries Telegram is believed to be safe - I'll show you", before proceeding to send messages from the account of a high-level Kenyan political adviser: "I'm not just spying", says Hanan, while explaining how to create disruption of a candidate's election campaign. At the moment, Team Jorge's statements remain unchanged: without the possibility of factual verification. Hanan may have "polished" his resume to secure a lucrative deal. Because his services are not free of charge: to interfere in electoral processes, the request is between 6 and 15 million euros, to be paid through a range of means and currencies that includes cryptocurrencies.
However, documents cited by the Guardian describe more modest commissions: for example, 160,000 dollars asked to the former British group Cambridge Analytica - already involved in a series of scandals over the management of unduly stolen private information - for an 8-week campaign in a country of the 'Latin America.
