Sunday, January 29, 2023
  • Advertise With Us
  • Write For Us
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
Download Free Magazine
The Cyber Express
Ransomware 2023 Report
  • Magazine
  • Firewall Daily
    • All
    • Dark Web News
    • Data Breach News
    • Hacks
    • Ransomware
    • Vulnerabilities
    Westmont Hospitality

    ALPHV/BlackCat Ransomware Gang Attacks Westmont Hospitality Group

    cybersecurity

    ‘You are Essentially Funding Cybercriminals When You Pay Ransom’

    Dr Pepper Russian Branch

    Data Breach at Dr Pepper Russian Branch, Mystery Hacker Steals Confidential Info

    Amadey Botnet

    Old Bot in New Bottle: Amadey Botnet Back in Action Via Phishing Sites

    Verizon

    Verizon Customer Data for Sale on Dark Web, New Data Breach Suspected

    GoTo Confirms User Data Stolen With Encryption Key

    GoTo Confirms User Data Stolen With Encryption Key

    HIVE Ransomware

    Hive Ransomware Servers Taken Down in FBI-led Global Law Enforcement Action

    porsche nft

    Porsche NFT Hits Pit Stop, Fake NFT Sale On With Malvertising and Fraud Domains

    Hilton Hotels

    Hilton Hotels Loyalty Program Data Breached, Customer Info for Sale

  • Essentials
    • All
    • Compliance
    • Governance
    • Policy Updates
    • Regulations
    TRAI

    TRAI Asked to Involve MoD in Drafting Big Data Regulations & Policies

    cybersecurity

    Cybersecurity incidents may soon be ‘uninsurable’

    Australia

    Australia Ropes in Tech Veterans to Set Up Cyber Action Plan

    Active Directory

    Prevent Ransomware: Save the Active Directory

    Privacy Penalty Bill

    Privacy Penalty Bill: Australian Parliament Approves Heavy Fines

    Zero Trust Strategy

    US Department of Defense to Embrace Zero Trust Strategy

    browser hijackers

    Researchers Find Browser Hijackers on Google Chrome Web Store

    DORA proposal

    DORA Proposal for Cybersecurity Awaits Full Approval by Council and ESAs

    Privacy penalty bill

    Australia Privacy Penalty Bill 2022: Pay a $50 Million Fine for Data Breaches

    • Regulations
    • Compliance
    • Governance
    • Policy Updates
  • Features
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Espionage
    • Workforce
      • Learning & Development
  • Business News
    • Startups
    • Mergers & Aquisitions
    • Partnerships
    • Appointments
    • Budgets
    • Research
      • Whitepapers
      • Sponsored Content
      • Market Reports
    • Interviews
      • Podcast
  • Events
    • Webinars
    • World CyberCon Middle East 2023
    • Endorsed Events
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
The Cyber Express
  • Magazine
  • Firewall Daily
    • All
    • Dark Web News
    • Data Breach News
    • Hacks
    • Ransomware
    • Vulnerabilities
    Westmont Hospitality

    ALPHV/BlackCat Ransomware Gang Attacks Westmont Hospitality Group

    cybersecurity

    ‘You are Essentially Funding Cybercriminals When You Pay Ransom’

    Dr Pepper Russian Branch

    Data Breach at Dr Pepper Russian Branch, Mystery Hacker Steals Confidential Info

    Amadey Botnet

    Old Bot in New Bottle: Amadey Botnet Back in Action Via Phishing Sites

    Verizon

    Verizon Customer Data for Sale on Dark Web, New Data Breach Suspected

    GoTo Confirms User Data Stolen With Encryption Key

    GoTo Confirms User Data Stolen With Encryption Key

    HIVE Ransomware

    Hive Ransomware Servers Taken Down in FBI-led Global Law Enforcement Action

    porsche nft

    Porsche NFT Hits Pit Stop, Fake NFT Sale On With Malvertising and Fraud Domains

    Hilton Hotels

    Hilton Hotels Loyalty Program Data Breached, Customer Info for Sale

  • Essentials
    • All
    • Compliance
    • Governance
    • Policy Updates
    • Regulations
    TRAI

    TRAI Asked to Involve MoD in Drafting Big Data Regulations & Policies

    cybersecurity

    Cybersecurity incidents may soon be ‘uninsurable’

    Australia

    Australia Ropes in Tech Veterans to Set Up Cyber Action Plan

    Active Directory

    Prevent Ransomware: Save the Active Directory

    Privacy Penalty Bill

    Privacy Penalty Bill: Australian Parliament Approves Heavy Fines

    Zero Trust Strategy

    US Department of Defense to Embrace Zero Trust Strategy

    browser hijackers

    Researchers Find Browser Hijackers on Google Chrome Web Store

    DORA proposal

    DORA Proposal for Cybersecurity Awaits Full Approval by Council and ESAs

    Privacy penalty bill

    Australia Privacy Penalty Bill 2022: Pay a $50 Million Fine for Data Breaches

    • Regulations
    • Compliance
    • Governance
    • Policy Updates
  • Features
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Espionage
    • Workforce
      • Learning & Development
  • Business News
    • Startups
    • Mergers & Aquisitions
    • Partnerships
    • Appointments
    • Budgets
    • Research
      • Whitepapers
      • Sponsored Content
      • Market Reports
    • Interviews
      • Podcast
  • Events
    • Webinars
    • World CyberCon Middle East 2023
    • Endorsed Events
  • Advertise
No Result
View All Result
The Cyber Express
No Result
View All Result
Home Firewall Daily

Kingdom of Contrast: Hiring Spies and Shunning Dissent, Both on Twitter 

A culpable co-defendant of Ahmad Abouammo fled to Saudi Arabia while the former was held on multiple counts including conspiracy.

Editorial by Editorial
December 16, 2022
in Firewall Daily
0
Twitter 
591
SHARES
3.3k
VIEWS
Share on LinkedInShare on Twitter

Recently, Former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouamma was sentenced to 42 months in prison by the United States Department of Justice for sending Twitter users’ information to the Saudi Royal Family and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Abouamma, 45, worked as a media partnerships manager for the Middle East and North America (MENA) region for Twitter between 2013 and 2015. Abouamma was helped by two other Saudi citizens named Ali Azabarah and Ahmed Almutairi.  

The incident is in stark contrast to how Saudi treats dissent on social media in the region. Saudi Arabia has been known to safeguard the ruling family’s autocracy rigorously. In doing so, several Twitter users, including writers, advocates, and journalists, have been sent to jail. A recent one was in April when Saudi court sentenced Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi citizen and 34-year-old mother of two children, to 34 years in prison for tweets protesting the government. She was in Saudi on vacation when she was arrested.

You might also like

ALPHV/BlackCat Ransomware Gang Attacks Westmont Hospitality Group

‘You are Essentially Funding Cybercriminals When You Pay Ransom’

Data Breach at Dr Pepper Russian Branch, Mystery Hacker Steals Confidential Info

A 72-year-old Saudi-American named Saad al-Madi was sentenced to life imprisonment in Saudi Arabia for posting tweets from his home in Florida. He was suddenly accused and imprisoned upon his return to the country.  

Over the past five years, Saudi Arabia has been carrying out surveillance and harassment of Saudis living in the US. According to the FBI and other groups, the country’s officials have been implementing a campaign of repression under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Some of the Saudis interviewed by the FBI said they were told not to return home.  

The Saudi Embassy in Washington responded to an inquiry from the Associated Press and stated that the notion that the country’s government or institutions harass its citizens abroad is ridiculous.  

Spying on Twitter was a common thing  

This isn’t the first time an incident has occurred with Twitter as well. Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, Twitter’s former head of security, has testified that the Twitter has previously been infiltrated by spies from at least two other countries.  

Latest in the list  

Tracking social media accounts is part of Saudi’s larger agenda of keeping dissent under check. According to research group Freedom House, Saudi Arabia took action against people from nearly 14 countries over criticizing the government.   

Saudi doesn’t even spare its own spies  

In an earlier instance, a top ex-spy Saad Aljabri of Saudi Arabia was warned by a friend at a west Asian intelligence service that he might face a similar fate as the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi journalist who was assassinated by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey) and so he fled from the nation. He stated that the team of mercenaries was sent by Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He further detailed that the team was called Tiger Squad and had serial killers in it.  

What happened to Ahmad Abouamma?  

Abouamma shared, accessed, monitored, and sent Twitter user data of over 6000 people back to the region. In return, he received expensive gifts like a Hublot watch that he put on sale on Craigslist for $42,000. His culpable co-defendant fled to the KSA before facing trial.  

According to investigations, Ahmad Abouamma, a dual U.S.-Lebanese citizen received his first bribe in December 2014 from an official who worked for the KSA. An official who was the head of the private office of the royal family, and who served as a Minister of State was involved in these transactions. Abouamma was sentenced for fraud, international money laundering, and showing false records during investigations.  

Abouamma was sentenced on Wednesday in the U.S. district court for the northern district of California. He was convicted also of lying and producing fake documents to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to plead his innocence. Abouamma will be under supervision for three years post serving the three years sentence. Another fellow Twitter employee Alzabarah who is at large is also suspected to be involved in accessing accounts    

Foreign Official-1 is suspected to be the brain behind the spying operation on Twitter. His real name is Bader al-Asaker and he is an advisor to the Saudi Crown Prince and leader Mohamed bin Salman. He walked free despite being accused of creating Twitter employees to fetch private user information. He is known to be walking free and being active on Twitter with over 2 million followers. Abouamma and Alzabarah are known to watch people on Twitter on the orders of al-Asaker in return for a huge sum of money.  

“This case revealed that foreign governments, here, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will bribe insiders to obtain the user information that is collected and stored by our Silicon Valley social media companies,” Stephanie M. Hinds, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California said in the report.   

Meanwhile, on Twitter 

Coincidentally, the Crown Prince’s cousin and his arch nemesis Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud became Twitter’s second largest shareholder in October when he followed through with his $1.9 billion equity commitment to Elon Musk. 

The prince was detained in November 2017 by the Saudi government along with 200 others on unproven corruption charges. 

A group of 19 investors made a $7.1 billion equity commitment to Musk in May to cover the $44 billion Twitter acquisition. Prince Al Waleed later made a Securities and Exchange Commission filing of the deal that made him Twitter’s second largest shareholder after Musk. 

Together, the prince and his publicly traded investing firm, Kingdom Holding, hold 34.948 million shares, or 4%, of Twitter. Al Waleed holds 95% of Kingdom Holding.  

It was never this rosy between Al Waleed and Musk. He was initially working to block Musk’s Twitter takeover. “I don’t believe the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects.” Alwaleed tweeted in April. 

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: CISAcyber express newscybersecurityFBINSASaudi Arabia spyingThe Cyber ExpressTwittertwitter spying
Previous Post

After Antwerp, Play Ransomware Hits Argentina

Next Post

The Top 10 Cybersecurity Defender Nations: Who’s Leading the Charge in Protecting Cyberspace?

Editorial

Editorial

The Cyber Express is a publication that aims to provide the latest news and analysis about the information security industry. The news comes from a variety of sources and is updated regularly so that readers can stay up to date with the latest happenings in this rapidly growing field.

Related Posts

Westmont Hospitality
Cybersecurity News

ALPHV/BlackCat Ransomware Gang Attacks Westmont Hospitality Group

by Chandu Gopalakrishnan
January 28, 2023
cybersecurity
Firewall Daily

‘You are Essentially Funding Cybercriminals When You Pay Ransom’

by Chandu Gopalakrishnan
January 28, 2023
Dr Pepper Russian Branch
Data Breach News

Data Breach at Dr Pepper Russian Branch, Mystery Hacker Steals Confidential Info

by Ashish Khaitan
January 27, 2023
Amadey Botnet
Firewall Daily

Old Bot in New Bottle: Amadey Botnet Back in Action Via Phishing Sites

by Editorial
January 27, 2023
Verizon
Dark Web News

Verizon Customer Data for Sale on Dark Web, New Data Breach Suspected

by Editorial
January 27, 2023
Next Post
Cybersecurity Defender, Critical Infrastructure

The Top 10 Cybersecurity Defender Nations: Who's Leading the Charge in Protecting Cyberspace?

Latest Issue is Out. Subscribe Now

Cybersecurity Person of The Year 2023
Download Now

Sign Up For Newsletter

Name*

Recommended

GITEX GLOBAL 2022

GITEX GLOBAL 2022 Helps Break The Glass Ceiling For Women Entrepreneurs

October 14, 2022
Court Fines Chetu

Netherlands Court Fines US Company 75,000 Euros For Wrongful Surveillance of Employees

October 11, 2022

Categories

  • Appointments
  • Budgets
  • Business News
  • Compliance
  • Cyber Essentials
  • Cyber Warfare
  • Cybersecurity News
  • Dark Web News
  • Data Breach News
  • DDoS Attacks
  • Espionage
  • Features
  • Firewall Daily
  • Gitex2022
  • Governance
  • Hacks
  • How to
  • Interviews
  • Learning & Development
  • Main Story
  • Malware News
  • Mergers & Aquisitions
  • Partnerships
  • Podcast
  • Policy Updates
  • Press Release
  • Ransomware
  • Regulations
  • Research
  • Resources
  • Startups
  • Vulnerabilities
  • Workforce

Don't miss it

Cyber Security for Water Treatment Plants
Interviews

The Threat is Real: Cyber Security for Water Treatment Plants Demands Attention

January 29, 2023
Westmont Hospitality
Cybersecurity News

ALPHV/BlackCat Ransomware Gang Attacks Westmont Hospitality Group

January 28, 2023
SOCs
Features

SOCs to Face Greater Challenges from Cybercriminals Targeting Govt. and Media in 2023

January 28, 2023
cybersecurity
Firewall Daily

‘You are Essentially Funding Cybercriminals When You Pay Ransom’

January 28, 2023
Dr Pepper Russian Branch
Data Breach News

Data Breach at Dr Pepper Russian Branch, Mystery Hacker Steals Confidential Info

January 27, 2023
How to protect and recover your Facebook and Instagram accounts – a complete guide
Resources

How to protect and recover your Facebook and Instagram accounts – a complete guide

January 27, 2023

About

The Cyber Express

Cybersecurity News and Magazine

The Cyber Express is a handbook for all stakeholders of the internet that provides information security professionals with the latest news, updates and knowledge they need to combat cyber threats.

Follow The Cyber Express

Contact

For editorial queries: [email protected]

For marketing, PR & media partnerships: [email protected]

For media kit and digitals sales: [email protected]

For Sponsorship/Event Partnership: [email protected]

For Conferences related information: [email protected]

Our Address

We’re remote friendly, with office locations around the world:

San Francisco, Atlanta, Rome,
Dubai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad,  Singapore, Jakarta, Sydney, and Melbourne

 

Headquarters:

The Cyber Express LLC
555 North Point Center E
Alpharetta, GA 30022, USA.

Tel: (678) 578-8838

Subscribe to Our Feed

RSS Feeds

© 2022 The Cyber Express | By Cyble Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Firewall Daily
  • Business News
  • Cyber Essentials
  • Features
  • Cybersecurity Magazine
  • Events
    • World CyberCon Middle East 2023
    • Webinars

© 2022 The Cyber Express | By Cyble Inc.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.