© Reuters. Signs of the Israeli company Cognyte are seen at its headquarters building in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Israel, January 13, 2023. REUTERS/Nir Elias
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By Fanny Potkin and Poppy McPherson
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Israel’s Cognyte Software Ltd won a tender to sell interception spyware to a Myanmar state-backed telecommunications company a month before the February 2021 military coup in the Asian nation, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
The deal was made despite Israel’s claim that it halted transfers of defense technology to Myanmar following a 2017 ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court, according to a lawsuit recently filed with Israel’s attorney general and released on Sunday.
Although the ruling was subject to a rare gag order at the request of the state and the media cannot quote the verdict, the government of Israel has publicly stated on numerous occasions that defense exports to Myanmar are prohibited.
The complaint, spearheaded by prominent Israeli human rights lawyer Eitay Mack, who led the campaign for the Supreme Court ruling, calls for a criminal investigation into the deal. He accuses Cognyte and unnamed Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense officials who oversee such deals of “aiding and abetting crimes against humanity in Myanmar.”
The complaint was filed on behalf of more than 60 Israelis, including a former chamber speaker, as well as leading activists, academics and writers.
The documents on the deal, provided to Reuters and Mack by activist group Justice for Myanmar, are a January 2021 letter with attachments from Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) to local regulators listing Cognyte as the winning provider. of interception technology and signal the purchase. the order was issued “before December 30, 2020.”
Interception spyware can give authorities the power to listen to calls, view text messages and web traffic, including emails, and track users’ locations without the help of telecommunications and Internet companies.
Representatives for Cognyte, the Myanmar military government and the MPT did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Reuters. Japan’s KDDI (OTC:) Corp and Sumitomo Corp, which have stakes in MPT, declined to comment, saying they were not aware of details about the communications interception.
Israel’s attorney general did not respond to requests for comment on the complaint. The Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the deal, while the Defense Ministry declined to comment.
Two people with knowledge of Myanmar’s interception plans separately told Reuters that the MPT tested the Cognyte system. They refused to be named for fear of reprisals from the Myanmar junta.
MPT uses intercepting spyware, a source with direct knowledge of the matter and three people briefed on the matter told Reuters, though they did not identify the vendor. Reuters could not determine whether the sale of Cogyte’s intercept technology to MPT was finalized.
Even before the coup, public concern in Israel over the country’s defense exports to Myanmar had grown after a brutal 2017 military crackdown on the country’s Rohingya population while the government of Aung San Suu Kyi was in power. The crackdown sparked the petition led by Mack asking the Supreme Court to ban arms exports to Myanmar.
Since the coup, the junta has killed thousands of people, including many political opponents, according to the United Nations.
COGNYTE UNDER FIRE
Many governments around the world allow law enforcement agencies to use what are commonly called “lawful interceptions” to catch criminals, but the technology is not typically employed without any kind of legal process, officials have said. cyber security experts.
According to industry executives and activists previously interviewed by Reuters, the Myanmar junta is using invasive telecom spyware without legal guarantees to protect human rights.
Mack said Cognyte’s participation in the tender contradicts statements made by Israeli officials after the Supreme Court ruled that there had been no security exports to Myanmar.
While interception spyware is generally described as “dual-use” technology for civil and defense purposes, Israeli law states that “dual-use” technology is classified as defense equipment.
Israeli law also requires companies that export defense-related products to obtain export and marketing licenses when doing business. The legal complaint says that any official who has licensed Cognyte for deals in Myanmar should be investigated. Reuters could not determine whether Cognyte obtained any such licenses.
Around the time of the 2020 deal, the political situation in Myanmar was tense, with the military disputing the results of an election won by Suu Kyi.
Norway’s Telenor, formerly one of Myanmar’s largest telecommunications companies before it withdrew from the country last year, also said in a December 3, 2020 briefing and statement that it was concerned about Myanmar authorities’ plans to a lawful interception due to insufficient legal safeguards. .
Nasdaq-listed Cognyte was spun off in February 2021 from Verint Systems (NASDAQ:) Inc, a giant pioneer in the Israeli cybersecurity industry.
Cognyte, which had $474 million in annual revenue during its last financial year, was also ousted from Facebook in 2021. Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:) said in a report that Cognyte “allows you to manage fake accounts on platforms social networks”.
Meta said its investigation identified Cognyte clients in a variety of countries including Kenya, Mexico and Indonesia and its targets included journalists and politicians. She did not identify the clients or the targets.
Meta did not respond to a request for further comment.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund last month removed Cognyte from its portfolio, saying states said to be clients of its surveillance products and services “have been accused of extremely serious human rights violations.” “. The fund did not name any states.
Cognyte has not publicly responded to the claims made by Meta or Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
