CYBERWATCH STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
CASE: JEFF BEZOS text: PASI ERONEN International security analyst and consultant
O
n the first of May in 2018, Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos received on WhatsApp an unsolicited video file message from Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. According to the later investigations, the MP4 video file was weaponized to exploit an unknown-at-the-time vulnerability in WhatsApp application running on Bezos's iPhone, giving perpetrators broad access to Bezos's phone and its contents. Following the penetration, tens of times more data than usually was transferred from Bezos's phone to an unknown destination. The open source reports covering the incident suggest that the perpetrators continued to have a foothold in Bezos's phone for months.
While Bezos, one of the richest persons in the world, can be considered to be a prime target for criminals, and while his command over Amazon makes him one of the most powerful persons in the world of global technology markets, his targeting by a nation state raised questions about the motivation behind the attack. Two key motivations raise above others, first of all, Bezos's ownership of the Washington Post. This American news outlet has been critical towards the Saudi leadership and published columns written by Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was according to the US intelligence sources murdered in October 2018 at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey. Second, a more speculative motivation is linked with an idea of Saudi crown prince courting President Trump's
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