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Report: UAE paying large sums of money to spy on its own people

December 11, 2018 at 4:46 pm

The Skyline International Foundation reported yesterday that the UAE has paid huge amounts of money to spy on its own citizens and hack regional and international institutions.

The foundation said in a report that the UAE has offered job vacancies through a government-funded company named the DarkMatter to attract expert hackers under the pretext of fighting cyber attacks.

According to the report, the UAE company has hired 400 experts to carry out major espionage operations mainly against its citizens and then attempt to hack the accounts of activists abroad.

READ: British academic says UAE asked him to spy on the UK

The report cited unnamed sources as saying that the company is closely cooperating with American hackers to build global spy systems that track people or businesses.

The UAE company run by Faisal Al-Bannai has attracted a large number of international companies, such as McAfee, the South Korean manufacturer Samsung and Google.

The company installs malicious softwares instead of strengthening defences which allows it to access surveillance cameras, computers and wireless communications, reports have said.

The foundation said it believes the company’s employees are not fully aware of the company’s mission, unlike its officials who interview the hackers at its headquarters in Abu Dhabi.