Morocco’s top security official may have been behind Macron spying, website says
The revelation that a mobile phone used by French President Emmanuel Macron was on a list of 10,000 phones potentially infiltrated by the Pegasus spyware, manufactured by the Israeli company NSO, has caused a stir in France. Suspicions have fallen on Morocco’s top security official, Abdellatif Hammouchi, 55, a trusted man of King Mohammed VI.
French President Emmanuel Macron uses multiple cell phone lines and often communicates via the messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram.
French President Emmanuel Macron uses multiple cellphone lines and often communicates via the messaging apps.
WhatsApp and Telegram. AP – John Thys
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The services run by the former Moroccan police officer are suspected of having compiled the list of 10,000 telephones possibly “infected” by the spy morocco whatsapp number database cookie. Most of the numbers are Moroccan. The King of Morocco himself was among the figures targeted.
Once installed on the phone, Pegasus spy software is capable of copying SMS messages, email texts, notes, photographs and videos, as well as activating the microphone and camera to record conversations and film meetings without the victim’s knowledge.
According to the France Info news website
Moroccan Abdellatif Hammouchi is an admirer of the American security vision. “He has risen through the ranks of the police with surprising speed and now occupies a central place in the kingdom’s security apparatus,” said a report published on Wednesday (21). The discreet police officer “is a rising star of Moroccan power,” according to a local journalist.
A fan of new technologies, Hammouchi has modernized and professionalized the Moroccan security system in just a few years. Close to Mike Pompeo, the former head of the CIA who became Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, the Moroccan officer created an anti-terrorism office in his country modeled on the FBI.
Macron was not the only president targeted in this wide-ranging espionage scandal. Phone lines belonging to 12 heads of state and government emerged in morocco consumer email list investigations revealed on Sunday (18) by the consortium of journalists called “Forbidden Stories” and partner media outlets, associated with the NGO Amnesty International. The devices were infiltrated in 2019. In France, in addition to the president, 14 ministers in the government of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, opposition politicians and journalists had their cell phones searched.
At the time, according to the France Info website , Macron was concerned about protests against Algeria’s then president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, weakened by age and decades of authoritarian rule. Algeria and Morocco have tense relations, and Macron was consulting with African Union leaders about the instability in Algiers.
Fear of manipulation
In an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien. A former French intelligence officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Said there was nothing new in this espionage scandal, although its scale was unprecedented. Regarding Morocco’s involvement, the interviewee believes that “it would be difficult for Moroccan intelligence to infiltrate the phones of bulk database French leaders without direct authorization from the king.” However, according to his experience, in this type of case, great caution is ne, because “appearances can be deceiving.” “The clues that lead to Morocco could backfire, a manipulation,” says the French officer. “The urgent ne is to understand what happen, who is behind it,” he adds, stressing that it will be difficult to obtain evidence.
Macron uses several cell phone lines from brands sold on the market, such as iPhone and Samsung. Despite efforts made by. French intelligence services to protect the president’s vices. He has a habit of communicating with members of the government via. WhatsApp and Telegram messaging apps on devices that are not fully encrypt.
The main concern of
Macron’s aides is the 2022 presidential election. ” Asks Le Parisien newspaper . This is the biggest fear among those close to the centrist lear. Whose emails were already hack during the 2017 presidential campaign.
