Israel Police hired private citizens as hackers for various investigations, including classified ones, Calcalist reported on Wednesday in the second half of the expose which revealed on Tuesday that the police has been using Pegasus malware to spy on Israeli citizens.

According to the report, the police’s SIGINT (signals intelligence) unit hired at least three civilian hackers as subcontractors to assist in solving criminal cases. Despite the fact that the hackers were exposed to extremely private and classified information, they did not receive security clearance, did not sign non-disclosure agreements and were not required to undergo lie detector tests.

The report also claims that the hackers hired by the police carried out illegal activities such as cracking private Wifi networks, utilizing security camera footage of private companies, and hacking insurances files.

One hacker who was hired by the police was Elishay Tubul, an oleh from France who served in the IDF as a lone soldier and is considered a computer genius. The police hired him at age 24 at a time he was experiencing financial distress and despite the fact that he was entangled in legal issues regarding alleged hacking into Sony’s PlayStation consoles.

Tubul said that he was given full access to the SIGINT unit’s offices in Jerusalem and was never questioned about how he obtained sensitive intelligence information.

In response to the report, Israel Police stated: “The claims in the report are false. Israel Police act according to the authority granted to it by law and when necessary according to court orders and within the rules and regulations set by the responsible bodies. The police’s activity in this sector is under constant supervision and inspection of Israel’s Attorney General and other external legal entities.”

“Understandably, the police don’t intend to comment on the tools they use. Nevertheless, we will continue to act in a determined manner with all the means at our disposal, in the physical and online spaces, to fight crime in general, and organized crime in particular, to protect the safety and property of the public.”

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said on Tuesday that he will launch a probe into the alleged police use of Pegasus spyware on Israeli citizens.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)