Explained: How an Israeli group 'Team Jorge' meddled with elections in 30 nations 

With the use of multiple highly advanced tools, an Israeli group may have meddled in over 30 presidential elections, a fresh investigation has revealed. Hacking, sabotage and disinformation - spread using bots on social media - could have helped this company, which goes by the name of "Team Jorge". The investigation - carried over six months between July and December 2022 - was published this week by Forbidden stories, a French nonprofit. Journalists from 30 prominent outlets, including Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País, are a part of the consortium that carried out the probe.

"Jorge" is the pseudonym used by Tal Hanan, a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative, who runs the company. "Team Jorge" is understood to be the codename used by his group. A group of undercover journalists tried to understand the method and the madness behind the data use. India is also believed to be on the list of affected countries.

Stunning details revealed during the investigation
In its elaborate report, Forbidden Stories recalls the scandal linked to British firm Cambridge Analytica, which was accused of misuse of data of over 80 million Facebook users to influence elections in the United States. The political consulting firm was involved in the campaign of former US president Donald Trump.

The Forbidden Stories, however, pointed out that many of the culprits may have escaped the aftermath when the scandal was revealed. A prominent whistleblower in the matter - Brittany Kaiser - said that hackers were a team in charge of “opposition research". She is the company’s former development director. These mysterious hackers have been referredto as “Israeli black ops” in an internal email by Alexander Nix, former CEO of Cambridge Analytica, and their boss has been referred to by the alias "Jorge".

The report also talks about continuing the disinformation investigation by Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was murdered in 2017 in Bengaluru."Almost five years after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, journalists from the Forbidden Stories consortium managed to identify and track down Jorge. Using dubious methods, the Israeli 'consultant' still goes by this same pseudonym and continues to sell his influence and manipulation services to the highest bidder," it reads.

Tools and technology employed by "Team Jorge"
When Jorge was consulted by an undercover journalist, who introduced himself as a representative of an African leader,he sought 6 million euros to help influence or cancel an election. During the subsequent conversations amid the investigation, Jorge revealed details about so-called secret operations.A major controversy in France is said to be related tosuch operations.

BFM TV, a popular French television channel, recently suspended one of its most prominent figures - Rachid M’Barki - over allegations of spreading misinformation. “Maybe I was tricked. I did not have the impression that was the case, or that I was participating in an operation, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it," Rachid said later on his alleged association with the Israeli company that claims to have journalists on its payroll for various objectives.

Bot networks, false information, and hacking of opponents are other tools that have helped Jorge in his questionable pursuits. He also stressed that apart from advanced technology, he relied on building a narrative.

Another tool that the group has reportedly used is AIMS: “Advanced Impact Media Solutions", which is not searchable on the web. The bot management software is apparently used to "spread stories using an army of avatars hosted in and run with an online platform". The report also cites "a catalogue of over 30,000 automated profiles of virtual people with real accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, and Bitcoin" with Jorge in 2022 that were a part of his so-called digital inventory.

During his interaction, Hanan spoke of the use of this bot management software to order a sex toy on Amazon so that a politician could be proven to be unfaithful in front of his wife. The AIMS avatars took a hard line against the UK Health and Safety Agency in 2021.

The group also resorted to hacking
Hacking was one weapon often used against targets. Unaware that his conversation with the reporters was being recorded, Hanan also revealed how the private messaging systems of several high-level African officials were hacked. They targeted Gmail and Telegram accounts during such operations. "Once inside the messaging system of a victim, Jorge was then able to impersonate conversations with their contacts. Jorge proceeded to send messages to the victims’ relatives from their hacked Telegram accounts," the report reads.

The Israeli group is said to have 100 employees globally and "a combination of former intelligence officers and communications and security experts" have confirmed the extent of the activities and the nature of the business.

As India and the United States prepare for elections next year, the stunning investigation has highlighted massive challenges facing social media networks and other platforms over data privacy and spread of misinformation. The Israeli group also has corporate clients.

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