ExxonMobil Lobbyist Caught Hacking Climate Activists

The Department of Justice is investigating a lobbying firm representing ExxonMobil for hacking the phones of climate activists:

The hacking was allegedly commissioned by a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, according to a lawyer representing the U.S. government. The firm, in turn, was allegedly working on behalf of one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, based in Texas, that wanted to discredit groups and individuals involved in climate litigation, according to the lawyer for the U.S. government. In court documents, the Justice Department does not name either company.

As part of its probe, the U.S. is trying to extradite an Israeli private investigator named Amit Forlit from the United Kingdom for allegedly orchestrating the hacking campaign. A lawyer for Forlit claimed in a court filing that the hacking operation her client is accused of leading “is alleged to have been commissioned by DCI Group, a lobbying firm representing ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies.”

Tags: hacking

Posted on January 29, 2025 at 7:04 AM • 3 Comments

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yet another bruce • January 29, 2025 11:03 AM

First Radicalized and now Spill. What is next in the life imitates Corey Doctorow’s art trifecta?

ResearcherZero • February 2, 2025 9:26 PM

Phones of course are a perfect target due to the PII that is available which is collected by apps. The amount of personal data that is collected by apps and the amount of data that can thus be collected with access to a phone via traffic inspection and other methods is enormous. It’s also much more targeted and precise than purchasing the data from brokers.

Normally you would have to have DOGE walk into to a Scif without a security clearance to gain such valuable intelligence on anyone you would want to target. This way, assuming they did not get caught, no one would have known about the illegal surveillance conducted. Thus by not being caught, no one would have exposed themselves to 4th-party inquiry/collection.

It’s very surprising that Exxon is allegedly involved. I somehow managed to read the article without noticing Exxon in the headline, yet oddly it was the first company that came to mind when I considered which company might engage in alleged behavior of type.

ResearcherZero • February 8, 2025 2:27 AM

Trauma is better shared than suffered alone…

Aviram Azari used hackers to steal emails from climate activists.

‘https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mercenary-hackers-stole-data-that-exxon-later-cited-climate-lawsuits-us-2023-10-12/

hired spies have become the secret weapon of litigants seeking an edge
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-hackers-litigation/

Schneier on Security

ExxonMobil Lobbyist Caught Hacking Climate Activists

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