Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Commenting on whether the state is targeting dissidents only with spywares, activist and technical expert Ali Abdulimam said that loyalists who were contacted were convinced that the government is spying on them.

Abdulimam is a member of a technical team that issued a detailed report confirming that the government of Bahrain spied on at least nine dissidents.

As for the mechanism of reaching the targeted, Abdulimam tells Bahrain Mirror that "the operation was random", adding that "We had information about the government of Bahrain purchasing Israel's Pegasus program (...) We selected random samples of activists, politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and anyone we suspect the state might spy on."

"Then we examined their devices through two technologies; the first by examining internet connection with the devices to see if there was any strange activity leaking information to servers that might belong to the spy program, and the second by examining the files of the hardware system. The results were shocking. We discovered nine cases, most of whom were hacked and spied on by the Bahraini government."

Answering a question on whether the government targets dissidents only, Abdulimam said "The program allows the state to spy on large sectors. Through our observation, we believe that the state is spying on everyone, including loyalists, MPs, and ministers."

While stressing that no state-affiliated apparatuses had been examined, he confirmed that "some of those we contacted within the pro-state circle had the conviction that the state is spying on them."

As to whether Cabinet Assistant Undersecretary Ibrahim Al-Dosari had his phone hacked by the software, Abdulimam said they had no information.

The authorities arrested Al-Dosari in July 2020 after he was accused of contacting Qatar and opponents abroad.

In another context, Abdulimam answered a question regarding the benefits of this program to Israel, the manufacturer of the Pegasus which is used by Bahrain and others for espionage, saying it us not limited to financial benefits, "the program allows Israel to see all the data uploaded from the victim's devices".

He explained that if the government of Bahrain hacked into any device and extracted photos, files and conversations, Israel would have a copy of that information.

"Given that Israel considers this program a military weapon that requires approval of the Israeli government to sell and export, we have something to convince us that the Israeli intelligence services have a copy of all the files, whether for those who have been hacked through Bahrain or any other country."

With respect to the size of hacking, he said "Our information is that the hackings that have occurred are more than what we have discovered. The hackings and espionage operations are continuing; this is the Bahraini security apparatuses' way to control the situation inside [Bahrain] and besiege activists abroad."

In order to avoid hackings Abdulimam sees that "it is important to note that hacking does not mean the victim's fault, as much as it is the crime of the company that produced and facilitated the sale of the program, its widespread and misuse by governments that violate human rights."

"Hardware operating systems always contain errors and loopholes that such companies exploit and sell for financial profit. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee or steps to ensure that your phone doesn't get hacked 100 percent. But for those who want to maintain their privacy, safety and security of those who communicate with, they must be always familiar with information security topics, and have their devices updated on an ongoing basis, in addition to other security advice such as not pressing links or opening files of anonymous sources."

Arabic Version