Shin Bet

Saudi Arabia
Riyadh deports French official over alcohol possession

Despite hopes of Westerners working in the Saudi kingdom, the legalisation of alcohol remains largely hypothetical. A French embassy official in Riyadh recently found out the hard way and was sent out of the country.

Spotlight | Argentina, India, United Kingdom, United States
Hack for hire and Panama Papers: FBI bid to extradite Israeli investigator awakens Elliott's Argentine ghosts

Private investigator Amit Forlit's extradition hearing for alleged hacking in the US is causing concern in the corporate intelligence community of which he has been a key figure over the past decade.

Israel
NSO Group veterans launch OSINT start-up IntelEye

Maor Sellek and Ziv Haba, two former employees of Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group, have teamed with business development specialist Oshrat Kakon Faribai to found the start-up IntelEye.

Israel
Hacking attack on veterans' association embarrasses Mossad and Shin Bet

Personal data on Shin Bet veterans might have been stolen when their association's website was hacked recently.

Israel
Israeli cyber providers called to assist intelligence services

Since Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel, Unit 8200 has been closing ranks with ex-officers, who are now heavyweights in the country's cyber intelligence sector. The goal is to bolster Israel's technical intelligence capacities and to understand why the intelligence community failed to predict the attack.

France, Middle East
Influence battle between Israel and Gulf nations plays out in Nice

Global Diwan, a French-Middle Eastern business club, has pushed back the date of its second annual forum in Nice, where the mayor, a long-standing friend of the Israeli consulting firm Elnet, has been outspoken in his support of Israel.

United States
Washington squares up to consequences of Israeli intelligence failures

The Hamas attack on 7 October and its repercussions will have a bearing on heated debate in the US about reauthorising interceptions, initially conceived as a weapon in the fight against terrorism.

The Agencies' Gazette
Vladimir Osechkin, French military attaché in Yerevan, new Belt & Road preparations

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community. This week, we bring news from Moscow, Biarritz, Yerevan and Baku.

France/RussiaCommunicator Vladimir Osechkin exposed for false defector evacuations

France/Armenia/AzerbaijanParis's impossible balancing act in Yerevan

ChinaThird Belt & Road forum preparations underway in Beijing

Israel, United States
Crackdown on cyber intelligence spells boon for lobbyists in Washington

As the US government becomes increasingly heavy-handed with trade restrictions and sanctions on cyber intelligence providers, companies in the field are increasingly turning to lobbyists.

Israel, United States
Israeli OSINT specialist Ultra launches sales drive in North America

Israeli open source intelligence (OSINT) company Ultra has called in Canadian company Wellington Advocacy to lead a charm offensive in the United States - just as Washington is tightening control over Israeli technical intelligence service providers.