
Tactics of Psy-Group, Black Cube Revealed in Canadian Court Battle - asafshalev
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3739390,00.html
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firasd
The fact that these 'sting operations' by private agencies were intended for
planting in newspapers is an interesting issue. Reminds me of an article about
how a BBC report about language tests for immigrants caused the UK government
to inaccurately crack down on people who were taking tests legitimately
[https://twitter.com/natematias/status/992739616443772928](https://twitter.com/natematias/status/992739616443772928)

Basically, the media is really eager to 'expose' things, but what happened
before (if the information was collected by a partisan entity) and after (if
the exposé led to overreaction) is something to consider...

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anon007
OT: Paul Grahm founder of YC was placed on some kind of a blacklist by SV
Israeli supporters after the twitter spat he had during Gaza bombing a few
years ago. I believe the spat was between PG and Mark Suster, if I remember
correctly.

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gadders
This was the only link I could find about
this:[https://pando.com/2014/08/05/graham-and-suster-square-off-
ov...](https://pando.com/2014/08/05/graham-and-suster-square-off-over-israel-
and-gaza-as-tech-industry-increasingly-pays-attention-to-the-real-world/)

~~~
rbanffy
I can do nothing but commend pg for his commitment to stop what I personally
think is close to shooting fish in a barrel. Except it's people and the barrel
is mostly dry.

~~~
gadders
I think PG is entirely wrong and Mark Suster was entirely right on that
subject.

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sbt
This is a commercialization of mafia tactics.

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sorokod
Mafia is mostly a commercial enterprise.

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drunkenmonkey
Honest inquiry. Has anyone else here had their behavioral patterns hacked by a
psy group?

There’s not a support network.

~~~
wu-ikkyu
How would you know if that was happening?

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Nelkins
"Psy-Group" and "Black Cube," huh?

You know, for two covert intelligence gathering firms they sure could have
chosen names that are a little less conspicuous.

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mtw
If these were true, how would a company protect against such attacks? Esp.
family members or vulnerable employees

~~~
sandworm101
There is training, but basically all of if surrounds not being an idiot with
strangers. Aside from people accepting bribes, most of these stings involve
the target trying to impress someone. They brag. They think this new person
might help them land a job in the future. Or: That pretty girl you met online
... she isn't in to you.

The military deals with this issue through other means, mainly by trying to
prevent employees becoming vulnerable in the first place. Living in secure
housing with stable costs of living. Retirement planning / pensions. Not
allowing people to fall into stupid dept (payday loans etc). And making sure
employees feel valued enough that they want to stay with the company. An
employee who feels secure in their position, who sees a clear road to
advancement within the organization, doesn't feel the need to brag to
strangers. Corporations would do well to consider these tactics.

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sandworm101
So who else here is part of these groups? It stands to reseaon that thier best
client is themselves.

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wolco
Which newspapers Black Cube contacted tells us so much about what goes on
behind the scene.

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jamra
Someone boasting about being a "Commander" is not the same as having been one.
I had hoped that this piece would have done a bit more research.

Basically, there are two groups, Black Cube and Psy-Group who are completely
different. The former is investigated for trying to run sting operations that
make no sense. The latter is asserted to be a part of Trump's social
manipulation group that got him elected. Something that could have been a part
of Cambridge Analytica.

So this article offers almost nothing of substance about the latter group.

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rrggrr
Where is the HN relevance? Did Psy-Group or Black Cube employ tech to conduct
its influence operations? Were systems compromised? Was there a troll center
posting in forums? Influence ops via technical means are a real problem for
journalism and online communities and something relevant to HN. I'm not seeing
how this article aligns with HN.

~~~
paganel
> Did Psy-Group or Black Cube employ tech to conduct its influence operations?
> Were systems compromised?

It's not mentioned in the article, but Black Cube did try and succeed to break
the gmail address of Laura-Codruta Kovesi a couple of years ago (she's head of
the Romanian anti-corruption agency, a sort of what Antonio Di Pietro and Mani
Pulite was for Italy back in the '90s). Allegedly the Black Cube
contractors/employees used a social engineering scheme in order to gain access
to Kovesi's email. The two Black Cube contractors were subsequently arrested
and they've just been given a suspended sentence, so that they can happily go
back to Israel and pick other clients.

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jamra
The article doesn't cover that. Do you have any references?

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paganel
A quick google search gave me this article in English:
[https://www1.agerpres.ro/english/2016/09/14/former-sri-
offic...](https://www1.agerpres.ro/english/2016/09/14/former-sri-officer-
detained-in-black-cube-case-kovesi-targeted-by-tornado-operation-15-42-25)
(from the national Romanian press agency) and there's also a dedicated section
on Kovesi's wikipedia page in Romanian on which you can use Google Translat:
[https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Codru%C8%9Ba_K%C3%B6vesi...](https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Codru%C8%9Ba_K%C3%B6vesi#Cazul_Black_Cube).

The email thing is mentioned mostly in Romanian-only articles from 2 years
ago, can't find the exact ones I remember reading back then. I found this new
article in English, though ([http://business-review.eu/news/romanias-dna-head-
on-black-cu...](http://business-review.eu/news/romanias-dna-head-on-black-
cube-scandal-no-email-hack-in-my-case-105605)), in which Kovesi denied that
anyone successfully managed to hack into her emails. But the facts are that 2
Black Cube employees have just been found guilty by Romanian justice in this
very case (and then they let them return home, to Israel).

