> Graphite belongs to the same category of commercial surveillance technology as Pegasus, the better-known spyware developed by NSO Group. Both are classified as mercenary spyware, meaning private companies develop and sell them to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
This buries the lede a bit. These companies play their part in trans-national organized crime networks, spanning countries like the USA, Russia and Israel. In Russia, it is often hard to delineate between organized crime and the FSB, because these networks overlap and they are often well established within the structures of the state. The same increasingly applies to the USA.
ICE is becoming a paramilitary force, "immigration control" is clearly not its only purpose. I cannot unsee this from the massive purges in the military, rooting out the most competent leadership. The parallels with Russia can't be ignored.
there are many if these companies and toolkits. too many to mention. more than 150 countries spend over 10M a year on _offensive_ cyber. generally making use of such toolkits if they lack inhouse capabilities, which is pretty much all of those countries because the people creating the capabilities will refuse to work for them, so they can sell their tools.
They're suggesting[1] they'll be attempting arrests at polling locations, which due to the statistics on fraudulent votes(statistically microscopic), equates to interference and intimidation since we know ICE isn't beyond arresting US citizens to harass them. This will have a chilling effect on citizens who are remotely non-white, who may avoid voting in person due to the risks associated with interacting with the under-trained ICE forces.
Additionally, USPS's current plans[2] for purging mail-in votes will disenfranchise the other method of voting.
I know you all are here getting ready for a circle jerk, however ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They monitor all goods and such coming and going from the country.
> In Russia, it is often hard to delineate between organized crime and the FSB, because these networks overlap and they are often well established within the structures of the state.
This already applies to the USA where Trump was very likely involved with the mob who were deeply embedded in the fabric of NYC. All of his NYC construction projects were pushed through and built by mobbed up companies. It's obvious he's in bed with anyone who will get him what he wants, criminal or not.
"In collaboration with the SHARE Foundation, the Citizen Lab analyzed forensic artefacts from the iPhone of a member of Serbia’s student protest movement after they received an Apple Threat Notification warning of targeting with mercenary spyware."
Zero clicks are cheap if NSO can afford to go after students.
When a company sells a 0-click exploit like that, they don't sell the actual malware/exploit, they sell access to a service or product. The contract will likely have a certain number of attacks with additional infections having a set price of $XXk.
That is how companies like Crowdfense can pay up to $5 million for an exploit. The sell it to some service (or have the service themselves) and generate revenue off of that. The person who sells that exploit gets some of that revenue, they're not getting $5 million up front.
Ok, so they can amortize expense and scarcity. But if they are reusing exploits, why isn't WhatsApp or the phone OS patched? I'm confused how they can be known functional infections, used multiple times, and then not get checked by the vendors? Even not be thwarted by some incidental app-patch. WhatsApp and Signal must know of this, don't they have some AI tools to fuzz and fix?
> Researchers have confirmed Graphite attacks through WhatsApp and iMessage, although the complete method remains secret.
unsurprising that it's closed source software which is vulnerable like this. LLMs can now decompile binaries very efficiently so it's not even security by obscurity anymore.
you really have to screw up to not carefully trace the path of incoming messages to ensure they are processed safely.
> The most dangerous infections require no mistake by the target. A zero-click attack works because phones automatically inspect incoming messages and files before displaying them.
It’s zero click but it needs an entry point, do we know the entry point? Yes of course! It’s the phone number!! I hope now you know why they keep phone numbers as a mean of identification, all the big tech and advancement in protocols and what not, yet you are still required to have a phone number as an ID “to fight spam, spoiler: it doesn’t”, or even as a 2FA, Canada for example is making a unified login portal to its all government services and the 2FA is only a phone number, how convenient!!
Phone number is the entry point for zero click, but also for tracking you even when your gps is disabled btw, phone modems has their own gnss and they send location to the towers all the time.
To prevent that, keep the phone number in another phone, not your main (keep your main with no sim card), preferably some dummy phone that you will only use when you need to otherwise it’s on airplane mode.
for people that don't understand how bad ICE is, here is a brief selection of _recent_ news about ICE, this isn't even like the product of an extensive search
Indeed. But when the rubber meets the road, even our community has trouble standing behind people taking direct action to disrupt ICE activities. eg: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48727750
I’m sure we could come up with a better system than paying extreme amounts of money to detain in terrible conditions non-violent people who were following the rules that were previously given to them.
> ICE Deports Milo Yiannopoulos, to settle some intra-MAGA feud
This is probably the one valid thing they did. He's truly vile [1]. He's also illustrative of how most undocumented people aren't "sneaking across the border" as the media claims but are simply visa overstayers. Still, Laura Loomer shouldn't have the power to advance his deportation. The story goes that he was in removal proceedings and he didn't show up for his hearing before an immigration judge so was ordered deported in absentia and then ICE picked him up.
Milo Yiannopoulos is just not a hill I'm ever willing to die on.
The real terrifying aspect of this whole story has nothing to do with Milo Vs ICE.
It's the fact that these previously cartoonish figures on Twitter are now wielding some level of power.
People love to say "oh just get off those bad social medias", but that fails to recognize how there is now multiple social media sites exercising a high level of coercion and misinformation that is injecting the previously goofy "it's just online" into real life.
The white nationalism that has been boosted by Elon and co IS REAL. It will have lasting effects on every facet of our society. The people who used to be internet clowns are now deporting their enemies.
I can't emphasize this enough, this is BAD.
There is no one with any level of morals or ethics at the wheel. It makes too much money to tear apart society. You can bring up endless cliches, "mainstream media", "billionaires", "politics". But the fact is, news channels have spent endless hours covering Hassan(the twitch streamer) and avoiding actual news. Nearly every facet of society has been captured to manipulate us, and there is no good ending for any of this.
> Still, Laura Loomer shouldn't have the power to advance his deportation.
This is a really key point. Trump operates like a mafia boss. Being in the protected class is a privilege that is fully dependent on the perception of the boss and those close to him. "For my friends everything, for my enemies the law."
It's not a good way to run a country. Did we have perfectly applied rule of law before the Trump era? No, but Trump is bringing us to new extremes of legal inequality.
They’ve been doing this for a while. And actually there’s a pretty great episode of darknet diaries that talks about how they were directly targeted by 8200 agents (taken out to dinner in New York IIRC). They were trying to find dirt on the guy.
there are many if these companies and toolkits. too many to mention. more than 150 countries spend over 10M a year on _offensive_ cyber. generally making use of such toolkits if they lack inhouse capabilities, which is pretty much all of those countries because the people creating the capabilities will refuse to work for them, so they can sell their tools.
Becoming?
What is ICE doing besides immigration control?
They're suggesting[1] they'll be attempting arrests at polling locations, which due to the statistics on fraudulent votes(statistically microscopic), equates to interference and intimidation since we know ICE isn't beyond arresting US citizens to harass them. This will have a chilling effect on citizens who are remotely non-white, who may avoid voting in person due to the risks associated with interacting with the under-trained ICE forces.
Additionally, USPS's current plans[2] for purging mail-in votes will disenfranchise the other method of voting.
[1]https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/dhs-chief-says-i...
[2]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whistleblower-postal-service-ne...
Modern American version of the SS.
causing misery
I know you all are here getting ready for a circle jerk, however ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They monitor all goods and such coming and going from the country.
They are also heavily involved in stopping human trafficking, preventing child exploitation, etc.
> In Russia, it is often hard to delineate between organized crime and the FSB, because these networks overlap and they are often well established within the structures of the state.
This already applies to the USA where Trump was very likely involved with the mob who were deeply embedded in the fabric of NYC. All of his NYC construction projects were pushed through and built by mobbed up companies. It's obvious he's in bed with anyone who will get him what he wants, criminal or not.
> I cannot unsee this from the massive purges in the military, rooting out the most competent leadership.
Structural coherence issues aside, is this some sort of a joke, or just thinly veiled personal bias presented as fact?
> ICE is becoming a paramilitary force
this is how the gestapo gets established.
Meanwhile in Serbia
https://citizenlab.ca/research/pegasus-spyware-infection-of-...
"In collaboration with the SHARE Foundation, the Citizen Lab analyzed forensic artefacts from the iPhone of a member of Serbia’s student protest movement after they received an Apple Threat Notification warning of targeting with mercenary spyware."
Zero clicks are cheap if NSO can afford to go after students.
When a company sells a 0-click exploit like that, they don't sell the actual malware/exploit, they sell access to a service or product. The contract will likely have a certain number of attacks with additional infections having a set price of $XXk.
That is how companies like Crowdfense can pay up to $5 million for an exploit. The sell it to some service (or have the service themselves) and generate revenue off of that. The person who sells that exploit gets some of that revenue, they're not getting $5 million up front.
Seems a low price for no-click zero-day infections
They reuse the same zero-days across multiple countries and agencies; Israelis are very efficient at doing business.
Ok, so they can amortize expense and scarcity. But if they are reusing exploits, why isn't WhatsApp or the phone OS patched? I'm confused how they can be known functional infections, used multiple times, and then not get checked by the vendors? Even not be thwarted by some incidental app-patch. WhatsApp and Signal must know of this, don't they have some AI tools to fuzz and fix?
My first thought too.
you really have to screw up to not carefully trace the path of incoming messages to ensure they are processed safely.
> The most dangerous infections require no mistake by the target. A zero-click attack works because phones automatically inspect incoming messages and files before displaying them.
It’s zero click but it needs an entry point, do we know the entry point? Yes of course! It’s the phone number!! I hope now you know why they keep phone numbers as a mean of identification, all the big tech and advancement in protocols and what not, yet you are still required to have a phone number as an ID “to fight spam, spoiler: it doesn’t”, or even as a 2FA, Canada for example is making a unified login portal to its all government services and the 2FA is only a phone number, how convenient!!
Phone number is the entry point for zero click, but also for tracking you even when your gps is disabled btw, phone modems has their own gnss and they send location to the towers all the time.
To prevent that, keep the phone number in another phone, not your main (keep your main with no sim card), preferably some dummy phone that you will only use when you need to otherwise it’s on airplane mode.
So NSA Wiretapping is illegal but ICE is ok? This administration is so wantonly criminal.
Wait, since when has the NSA stopped collecting data? That assumption is new to me.
Does this article have any information in it from 2026? or is it just a sloppy rehash of information from a year ago.
May 2026: DHS says ICE has 'no relationship' with spyware maker Paragon Solutions
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/22/nx-s1-5831577/dhs-ice-spyware...
for people that don't understand how bad ICE is, here is a brief selection of _recent_ news about ICE, this isn't even like the product of an extensive search
Ice buys shock gloves https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-perfect-tool-for-abuse...
ICE doesn't pay hospital bills: https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/ice-detainee-me...
DOJ blocked federal prosecution of ICE agent in shooting: https://www.propublica.org/article/doj-blocks-charges-ice-ag...
ICE doesn't vet candidates: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/us/ice-recruits-national-...
ICE agent with history of violent behavior shoots man in Maine: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/ap-report-ice-officer-in...
ICE puts tracking devices on Haitians who were here legally: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/haitians-ohio-l...
Haitian student commits suicide after being forced to wear tracking device https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/springfield-ohio-haitia...
ICE Deports Milo Yiannopoulos, to settle some intra-MAGA feud: https://sfist.com/2026/08/28/milo-yiannopoulos-detained-by-i...
Like, that isn't like cherry-picking, it's a five minute scroll through one of my social media feeds.
They are a stain on the US and need to be abolished.
Indeed. But when the rubber meets the road, even our community has trouble standing behind people taking direct action to disrupt ICE activities. eg: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48727750
[flagged]
The illegal immigrants are not as scary as ICE.
I’m sure we could come up with a better system than paying extreme amounts of money to detain in terrible conditions non-violent people who were following the rules that were previously given to them.
[dead]
> ICE Deports Milo Yiannopoulos, to settle some intra-MAGA feud
This is probably the one valid thing they did. He's truly vile [1]. He's also illustrative of how most undocumented people aren't "sneaking across the border" as the media claims but are simply visa overstayers. Still, Laura Loomer shouldn't have the power to advance his deportation. The story goes that he was in removal proceedings and he didn't show up for his hearing before an immigration judge so was ordered deported in absentia and then ICE picked him up.
Milo Yiannopoulos is just not a hill I'm ever willing to die on.
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/30/milo-yiannop...
The real terrifying aspect of this whole story has nothing to do with Milo Vs ICE.
It's the fact that these previously cartoonish figures on Twitter are now wielding some level of power.
People love to say "oh just get off those bad social medias", but that fails to recognize how there is now multiple social media sites exercising a high level of coercion and misinformation that is injecting the previously goofy "it's just online" into real life.
The white nationalism that has been boosted by Elon and co IS REAL. It will have lasting effects on every facet of our society. The people who used to be internet clowns are now deporting their enemies.
I can't emphasize this enough, this is BAD.
There is no one with any level of morals or ethics at the wheel. It makes too much money to tear apart society. You can bring up endless cliches, "mainstream media", "billionaires", "politics". But the fact is, news channels have spent endless hours covering Hassan(the twitch streamer) and avoiding actual news. Nearly every facet of society has been captured to manipulate us, and there is no good ending for any of this.
> Still, Laura Loomer shouldn't have the power to advance his deportation.
This is a really key point. Trump operates like a mafia boss. Being in the protected class is a privilege that is fully dependent on the perception of the boss and those close to him. "For my friends everything, for my enemies the law."
It's not a good way to run a country. Did we have perfectly applied rule of law before the Trump era? No, but Trump is bringing us to new extremes of legal inequality.
great article, very detailed
Ehud Baraj, wasn't he a close confidante of Epstein?
I assume you mean Ehud Barak? Surely not, or I would have heard about it in the US media for sure.
This is your daily reminder that orange man bad
>Citizen Lab helped WhatsApp identify and block an active Graphite zero-click exploit in late 2024.
How to get murdered by a private equity firm in one easy step.
They’ve been doing this for a while. And actually there’s a pretty great episode of darknet diaries that talks about how they were directly targeted by 8200 agents (taken out to dinner in New York IIRC). They were trying to find dirt on the guy.