Cognyte, Israel’s spy-spyware seller to Myanmar in the run-up to the coup -documents

Fanny Potkin and Poppy McCPherson

SINGAPORE (Reuters). Reuters documents show that Cognyte Software Ltd, Israel, won a tender to sell intercept spyware to a Myanmar state-backed telecommunications business. This was one month before the Asian nation’s February 2021 military coup.

According to a recent legal complaint filed with Israel’s attorney General and published on Sunday, the deal was signed even though Israel claimed that it had stopped defense technology transfers to Myanmar in 2017 following a ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court.

The ruling was made subject to a rare gag order by the state. Media cannot quote the verdict. However, Israel’s government repeatedly stated that defense exports to Myanmar were prohibited.

Eitay Mack, a prominent Israeli human rights lawyer, is leading the charge against Cognyte. She spearheaded the campaign to get the Supreme Court decision. The complaint calls for an investigation into the deal. Cognyte is also named as an unnamed foreign ministry and defence official who oversee such deals. They are accused of “aiding in and abetting crimes Against Humanity in Myanmar.”

The complaint was filed by more than 60 Israelis. It included a former speaker of parliament as well as prominent activists and academics.

The documents about this deal, which were given to Reuters and Mack from the activist group Justice for Myanmar are a January 2021 Letter with attachments by Myanmar Posts Telecommunications to local regulators. These attachments identify Cognyte to be the winning vendor for interception technology and note that the purchase orders were issued “by 30 Dec 2020”.

With Intercept spyware, authorities can listen to calls and view web traffic and text messages without having to contact internet and telecom firms.

Representatives for Cognyte, Myanmar’s military government and MPT did not respond to multiple Reuters requests for comment. Sumitomo Corp in Japan and KDDI Corp in Japan, both of which hold stakes at MPT, declined comment saying that they were not privy information about communication interception.

The Israeli attorney general didn’t respond to inquiries about the complaint. The request for comment from the foreign ministry regarding the deal was not received by the ministry of foreign affairs. However, the defense ministry declined to comment.

Two people with knowledge of Myanmar’s intercept plans separately told Reuters the Cognyte system was tested by MPT. For fear of reprisals by the Myanmar junta they refused to be identified.

MPT uses intercept spyware. A source with direct knowledge of this matter and three people briefed about the issue told Reuters, although they didn’t identify the vendor. Reuters couldn’t determine whether Cognyte intercept tech to MPT was sold.

Even before the coup in Israel, concern grew about Israel’s defense exports to Myanmar. This was after the brutal 2017 crackdown that the military carried out on the Rohingya population in the country while Aung San Suu Kyi was in power. Mack started a petition asking the Supreme Court for an order banning arms exports from Myanmar.

According to the United Nations, thousands have been killed by the junta since the coup, including political opponents.

COGNYTE UNDER FIIRE

Many governments around the world allow for what are commonly called ‘lawful intercepts’ to be used by law enforcement agencies to catch criminals but the technology is not ordinarily employed without any kind of legal process, cybersecurity experts have said.

According to activists and industry executives interviewed by Reuters, Myanmar’s junta uses invasive telecoms spyware to violate human rights.

Mack claimed that Cognyte participated in the tender despite statements by Israeli officials made after the Supreme Court ruled that no security exports to Myanmar had been made.

While intercept spyware is commonly described as “dual usage” technology for defense and civilian purposes, Israeli law states “dual use technology” is considered defence equipment.

Israeli law also requires that companies selling defense-related products export licenses be sought for export and marketing purposes. A legal complaint stated that any officials who granted Cognyte licenses in relation to Myanmar deals should face criminal investigation. Reuters couldn’t determine whether Cognyte was granted such licenses.

At the time of the deal in 2020, Myanmar’s political situation was very tense. The military was contesting the results of an election won largely by Suu Cyi.

Norway’s Telenor, previously one of the biggest telecoms firms in Myanmar before withdrawing from the country last year, also said in a Dec. 3, 2020 briefing and statement that it was concerned about Myanmar authorities’ plans for a lawful intercept due to insufficient legal safeguards.

Cognyte, which is listed on Nasdaq, was spun off February 2021 by Verint Systems Inc. This pioneering company in Israel’s cybersecurity sector is called Verint Systems Inc.

Cognyte was also banned from Facebook in 2021. It had $474million in annual revenue in its last financial year. Meta Platforms Inc, Facebook’s owner, said that Cognyte “enables management of fake accounts across multiple social media platforms”.

Meta stated that it had identified Cognyte customers from a variety of countries including Mexico, Kenya and Indonesia. The targets were journalists and politicians. It didn’t identify either the customers or targets.

Meta did not respond when asked for additional comment.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund last month dropped Cognyte from its portfolio, saying states said to be customers of its surveillance products and services “have been accused of extremely serious human rights violations”. The fund didn’t name any state.

Cognyte did not respond publicly to claims by Meta and Norway’s sovereign wealth funds.

(Reporting by Fanny Potkin in Singapore & Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo and Dan Williams in Tel Aviv; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)