TV: Securities Authority apparently indicated to Filber his phone was targeted; Authority denies it
In quotes published by Channel 12 news, an investigator for the Israel Securities Authority appears to indicate to Shlomo Filber, a state’s witness in Netanyahu’s criminal trial, that advanced spyware capabilities may have been utilized against him.
Update: The Israel Securities Authority later clarified that Filber’s phone was seized, in accordance with the law, when he was questioned as a suspect over allegations relating to the Bezeq telecommunications firm in 2017; it was not bugged or hacked, a spokesperson for the ISA said.
Filber, the former director-general of the Communications Ministry, has been at the center of reports in recent days that his phone was drained of all its data by police investigating former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The prosecution in the Netanyahu affair has been ordered by Jerusalem District Court to provide details of any such use of spyware against Filber or others connected to the case.
“We have… software that is a generation ahead of the NSA,” the Israel Securities Authority investigator said, according to an interrogation transcription, referring to the US National Security Agency.
“I want you to understand, the knowledge I have about your world, your life… is thorough,” the investigator says according to the transcription. Filber was questioned by the Securities Authorities “many months” before police first questioned him, and long before he turned state’s witness, the TV report said.
“I can click on a person and see everything, I can see what you deleted, when you deleted, why you deleted, I can see everything,” the transcript reads.
According to Thursday reports, Filber apparently had his phone illicitly hacked by police during the investigation. Police brass reportedly told justice officials that the data was downloaded accidentally and was never given to investigators in the Netanyahu cases.