Ghost in the network

How a Swiss tech expert runs a global phone surveillance systemIn the decade since Edward Snowden’s leaks exposed the workings of the US and UK national surveillance apparatus, the market for spying services has fragmented and expanded into a start-up economy of location trackers, password crackers and data extractors. Investigations into this industry have focused on spyware companies like NSO Group and Intellexa. But here we expose a prolific actor in this space, operating not from a secret office building in the high tech hubs of Tel Aviv, Larnaca or Athens but from a modest terraced house on a sleepy sidestreet in the medieval town of Basel.His name is Andreas Fink: maverick tech expert and telecom entrepreneur, former ally of Julian Assange and vocal critic of the security state, now turned surveillance industry enabler.Our investigation shows how Fink has built a surveillance apparatus that he has put at the disposal of governments and companies around the world – including Israe

https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/ghost-in-the-network/