Abu Dhabi—As weapons sales to Gulf countries soar, defense companies flocked to last month’s bi-annual International Defense Exhibition in Abu Dhabi.
“One click and we can take control of your phone,” said a representative at the booth working for Advanced Systems, an intelligence company based in Dubai which advertises “a full range of intelligence solutions to help governments to effectively fight against terrorism, malicious acts, or civil unrest.”
“There’s very good interest among the intelligence agencies in the Middle East,” the representative said, adding that Europe and even the U.S. had also inquired about the technology. The idea of Gulf countries buying drones that can hack your cell phone may sound shocking, but to Chris Rock, a security researcher currently acting CEO of SIEMonster, a monitoring software company, says none of this is surprising.
Karin Gilles, a spokesperson for A10 Networks, did not respond to questions about the meeting, but said that the company’s product doesn’t touch “user data.” “A lot of the current surveillance technology is being pioneered in Israel and China; and it’s targeted at counterterrorism; and it may be applied to a bigger definition of counterterrorism than Americans are comfortable with,” said Alterman of CSIS.
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