Last Sunday, an investigation into the worldwide misuse of spyware developed by veterans of Israel's intelligence unit 8200 generated a lot of interest. In an article published this week, Whitney WEBB reveals the Toka tool, the most dangerous Israeli spyware.

In addition to Israeli spyware Pegasus, other companies, like Toka, are not under investigation, even though their products have even greater potential for abuse and illegal surveillance. Toka was launched in 2018 with the express purpose of selling a "tailored ecosystem of cyber capabilities and software products for government, law enforcement and security agencies. "According to a company profile published in Forbes shortly after its launch, Toka advertised itself as "a one-stop hacking shop for governments that need capabilitiess to fight terrorists and other national security threats in the digital domain." Toka was launched with the intention of "providing spying tools for any device its customers need," including not just smartphones, but also "a special focus on the Internet of Things (IoT)."

Today, Toka claims to offer its law enforcement, government and intelligence customers the ability to obtain " targeted intelligence" and conduct "forensic investigations" as well as "covert operations." In addition, Toka offers governments its "Cyber Designers" service, which provides "agencies with the full-spectrum strategies, custom projects and technologies needed to ensure the security and sustainability of critical infrastructure, the digital landscape and government institutions." According to the company, this includes devices like Amazon Echo, Google Nest connected home products, as well as connected refrigerators, thermostats and alarms. The vulnerabilities Toka discovered in these products would not be disclosed to vendors, meaning that these flaws would remain vulnerable to any hacker, whether they are a Toka customer or not.