Team Jorge
Team Jorge is the name given to an outfit of Israeli contractors specialized in the use of malign cyber activities including hacking, sabotage and bot farm-run social media disinformation campaigns to manipulate the outcomes of elections.
The group was exposed in February 2023 by a consortium of investigative journalists coordinated by Forbidden Stories. The organization has been active since at least 2015 and boasts of having manipulated 33 presidential elections worldwide, many of them in Africa, and in 27 cases with successful results.
Its activities were revealed after a sting operation by three undercover journalists posing as prospective clients filmed interactions with Tal Hanan—the group's leader and a former Israeli special forces operative—in Tel Aviv in 2022 in which he explained the inner workings of the organization.[1] Tal Hanan's nickname in the group is "Jorge", hence the name.
Background
According to the group's leader, Tal Hanan, the organization has existed for more than two decades, and has been engaged in propaganda and disinformation activities in more than 30 countries. However, its first documented activity dates to 2015. According to Tal Hanan, its services are available to governmental intelligence agencies, political campaign movements and private companies that wished to covertly manipulate public opinion.[1]
One of the organization's primary tools is a software package called Advanced Impact Media Solutions, or Aims. The software automates centralized control of thousands of fake social media profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, and others. A number of these profiles also have Amazon and Airbnb accounts, along with credit cards and bitcoin wallets.[2] The group also employs hacking techniques to brute force accounts of potential victims.[1] The group is said to have six offices across the world, with its headquarters located in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, a town 35 kilometres (22 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv. Among the people working for this organization is Tal Hanan's brother, Zohar Hanan (known under the alias Nick), described as the group's chief executive.
Investigation and exposure
Team Jorge's activities were revealed after a sting operation by three undercover journalists from Radio France, Haaretz and TheMarker posing as prospective clients filmed interactions with Tal Hanan in Tel Aviv in 2022 in which he explained the inner workings of the organization.[1] In the conversations, Hanan boasted of having interfered in 33 presidential-level campaigns, 27 of which had positive results for the faction that hired them.[3]
Hanan claimed responsibility for a 2019 cyberattack against the central elections committee of Indonesia made to look like it had come from China for political reasons.[3] Media outlets including Bloomberg reported on the attack in March 2019, noting the probable “Chinese-Russian” origin of the interference, while an investigation by The Guardian noted that it was more likely the work of other hackers leaving a false trail.[3]
He also claimed that Team Jorge interfered in the 2014 Catalan independence referendum, hacked the emails of the chief-of-staff of Trinidad and Tobago and leaked a document to cause a political crisis, passed false information to an ABC journalist to influence the 2012 Venezuelan presidential election against former Hugo Chavez, ran a 2022 campaign claiming the Polisario Front has ties to Hezbollah and Iran and another 2022 campaign defaming Ali Bin Fetais Al-Marri, the UN envoy for combating corruption.[3]
The wider investigation involved journalists from a total 30 outlets, coordinated by Forbidden Stories,[1] and included The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Le Monde, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), El País, and other media organizations in France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Spain, Tanzania and the United States.[3]
Emails leaked to The Guardian show that Team Jorge was in contact with Cambridge Analytica in 2015 and 2017 over political campaigns in Africa and South America. During the meeting with the undercover journalists, Tal Hanan showcased how he was able to hack into the Telegram account of Dennis Itumbi, a digital strategist for William Ruto during the 2022 Kenyan general election.[3] Itumbi subsequently confirmed to The Star that his Telegram account had been infiltrated, and that he noticed “increased activity” in the run-up to the election.[4]
Leaked documents revealed that Team Jorge, alongside Cambridge Analytica, worked to manipulate the 2015 Nigerian election.[1] The plan was to help get Goodluck Jonathan re-elected by discrediting Muhammadu Buhari, but the campaign ultimately failed to effect the outcome of the election.[5]
Le Monde found that Team Jorge created various segments that Rachid M'Barki, a French television presenter for BFM TV, broadcast without editor approval, possibly on behalf of foreign governments. He was suspended in January 2023 amid the inquiry by international investigative reporting teams.[6] It was suggested to undercover reporters by a member of Team Jorge that the group was behind a BFM TV news report that discussed the effect of sanctions against Russian oligarchs on Monaco's luxury yachting industry.[7]
On 16 February, India's Congress party demanded a probe into the possible involvement or interference of Team Jorge in Indian elections.[8][9]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Ganguly, Manisha; Pegg, David; Cadwalladr, Carole; Burke, Jason (15 February 2023). "Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections". The Guardian.
- ^ Ganguly, Manisha (14 February 2023). "'Aims': the software for hire that can control 30,000 fake online profiles". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f Megiddo, Gur; Benjakob, Omer. "The people who kill the truth". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
- ^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Burke, Jason; Kimeu, Caroline (17 February 2023). "Ruto ally says Telegram account was hacked before Kenyan election". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- ^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Cadwalladr, Carole; Lewis, Paul; Burke, Jason (16 February 2023). "Dark arts of politics: how 'Team Jorge' and Cambridge Analytica meddled in Nigerian election". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- ^ Leloup, Damien; Reynaud, Florian (15 February 2023). "#StoryKillers: The links between Israel-based 'Team Jorge' and a French TV presenter who aired fake news". Le Monde. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
- ^ Ganguly, Manisha; Conn, David (15 February 2023). "French broadcaster BFMTV suspends presenter amid disinformation scandal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- ^ "Congress Demands Probe Into Whether 'Team Jorge' Operates in India". The Wire.
- ^ "Congress seeks probe into alleged use of Israeli firm 'Team Jorge' in elections in India". The Tribune.