Surveillance Empire That Tracked World Leaders, a Vatican Enemy, and Maybe You
9 hours ago
- #privacy
- #espionage
- #surveillance
- Guenther Rudolph, sales director of First Wap, discusses circumventing export controls for surveillance tech at ISS World Training in Prague.
- First Wap's Altamides system exploits SS7 telecom vulnerabilities for real-time phone tracking without leaving traces.
- A secret archive reveals Altamides was used to track thousands globally, including US executives, journalists, and Silicon Valley figures.
- First Wap's clientele includes repressive regimes and corporate entities, with resellers like KCS Group marketing the tech globally.
- The Vatican allegedly used Altamides to track journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi during his investigation into Vatican corruption.
- Private misuse of Altamides included corporate espionage and personal vendettas, such as tracking a London-based Russian expat.
- First Wap continues evolving Altamides, now intercepting calls and messages, while avoiding spyware's ethical scrutiny.