Privacy SOS

Narus, NICE and Verint (formerly Comverse Infosys) are Israeli-formed companies with links to Israeli intelligence services that provide the hardware and software for wiretapping domestic communications within the United States as well as for international communications. James Bamford in his 2008 book The Shadow Factory states that “virtually the entire American telecommunications system is bugged by two Israeli-formed companies with possible ties to Israel’s eavesdropping agency – with no oversight by Congress” (page 246). 

Bamford writes that Verint also has 
extreme close ties with the FBI’s central wiretapping office…Thus, the company that secretly taps much of the country’s telecommunications is now very closely tied to the agency constantly seeking greater access to the switches…But as earphone-clad FBI agents were listening for terrorists and criminals through Verint’s taps, top executives from the company and its parent, Comverse, were themselves engaging in an orgy of theft, bribery, money laundering, and other crimes…Unknown to the public, an entire national telecom network was channeled through a powerful foreign-made bug controlled by a corrupt foreign-based company with close links to a foreign electronic spy agency.
In April 2011, Verint announced that it was integrating Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) data into its “Nextiva Video Management System,” a video analytics firm.
 
Read more about Verint and Comverse on pages 236 – 253 of Bamford’s book. 
 
See also Christopher Ketcham, “An Israeli Trojan Horse: How Israeli Backdoor Technology Penetrated the US Government’s Telecom System and Compromised National Security.” 

© 2024 ACLU of Massachusetts.