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Getting through a day on social media can be like playing a game of Super Mario Kart and dodging trolls, bots, and ads. However, now we all need to worry about a heck of a lot more, thanks to an Israeli company that “accidentally” exposed a slew of users to hackers for over a year. That’s right, AU10TIX, an Israeli company trusted with verifying user identities for big names like TikTok, X, and others, left the cyber front door wide open for over a year, allowing all our private information, like photos, drivers license information, and other sensitive data, to sit out like a pile of laundry. By exposing administrative credentials online, AU10TIX basically hung a welcome sign for hackers. This security breach shines a light on a concerning trend: while social media platforms and other companies hustle to verify identities—whether it’s your face or your age—our personal data is sitting there in some unprotected pile, ripe for the picking. Now, we’re not just users; we’re sitting ducks in a pond that’s being fished by hackers and Israeli intelligence.

Here’s a bit of semi-good news: X users who verified their identities in 2024 dodged this cybersecurity bullet—the hack happened two years earlier, so their data wasn’t caught in the net, apparently.

X Daily News:

NEWS: AU10TIX, an identity verification company used by TikTok, Uber, and X, exposed admin credentials online for over a year, potentially allowing hackers access to sensitive user data.

– AU10TIX verifies user identities through face photos and driver’s licenses
– Exposed credentials gave access to a logging platform with links to user data
– Accessible info included names, DOB, nationality, ID numbers, and document images

– Data also showed verification process results, including “liveness” checks
– Credentials were first posted on Telegram in March 2023

– The exposed credentials were obtained before December 2022
– X users were required to share IDs in 2024, two years after the exposure
– AU10TIX claims the system containing exposed data has been decommissioned
– “While PII data was potentially accessible … we see no evidence that such data has been exploited”

Here’s a closeup of the image:

It appears that X may have recently dropped using the Israeli company to verify users after a slew of consumer complaints.

However, the Israeli company begs to differ. They claim X has not severed ties with them, and it’s business as usual.

CTech:

Social media platform X appears to no longer use the Israeli user identity verification platform AU10TIX for its identification verification services. Some users had initially raised concerns about uploading their photo IDs onto the platform to access monetization services due to the company’s alleged links with Israeli intelligence agencies.

Earlier this month some users on X had demanded that the platform cut ties with AU10TIX claiming that the information it receives would end up in the hands of Israel’s intelligence services. Musk initially did not reject the demand and instead promised to investigate the issue, which appears to be resolved: American company Stripe is now handling the verification process.

AU10TIX officials told CTech that while the company does not disclose information about its customers, there has been no change in the cooperation between the companies.

According to sources in the industry, it is common practice to work with multiple suppliers. The source also suggested that the cause of these rumors appears to be antisemitic and anti-Israeli groups attempting to cause harm or reputational damage to the firm.

Now many in the media are claiming the backlash against AU10TIX is “anti-Semitic,” rather than addressing the real concern: folks just don’t want their private data potentially landing in the wrong hands, be it cyber bad guys or intel agencies—especially if those hands are foreign.

The CTech piece goes on:

The initial effort to remove AU10TIX from X was influenced by an account that goes by the name Censored Men and describes itself as ‘Alternative Media’. It has frequently posted anti-Israel and incorrect information regarding Israel and its war with Hamas in Gaza. Another user, Jake Shields, who is a prominent anti-Israel commentator, claimed the change was “a win for the good guys” and thanked Musk for the apparent decision.

The backlash against the Israeli company began when X announced that any creator on the platform who wished to monetize their account was obligated to verify their identity. At the time, AU10TIX said in response to Calcalist: “AU10TIX is committed to all international privacy standards and does not transfer details to any third party. This has always been the case and always will be.”

The account being labeled “anti-Semitic” for pushing back against an intel-linked company improperly handling personal data took a victory lap.

AU10TIX is run by a man named Ron Atzmon. He’s a former Mossad intel official, but the ties to Israeli intelligence go way deeper than that.

Censored Men:

🇮🇱👥 The Personnel Behind AU10TIX

I think a good starting point when learning about AU10TIX is knowing the people who run it.

As we go through the personnel behind AU10TIX, you’ll notice a familiar pattern.

Founder | Ron Atzmon:

⁃ Former member of Israel’s intelligence Unit 8200.

⁃ Unit 8200 provides Israel with 90% of its intelligence material.

⁃ His father, Menachem Atzmon (who we’ll talk about more later), was convicted in Israel in 1996 for campaign finance fraud while co-treasurer of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

⁃ Up until his 1996 conviction, his father was also president of the Israel Development Fund (IDF), a U.S. tax-exempt foundation funneling money illegally to the Likud party of Ariel Sharon and Bibi Netanyahu.

⁃ Gilad Atzmon, Menachem’s cosuin, confirmed that Menachem is a senior Israeli Mossad operative and the front man for Shaul Eisenberg, Mossad’s mega-agent in China and Japan (more on this later).

⁃ AU10TIX is the technological arm of ICTS International (which we’ll talk about more later), and was founded by former Israeli Shin Bet members and is owned by Menachem Atzmon.

CEO | Dan Yerushalmi:

⁃ Was previously the CRO and Chief Customer Officer for Check Point Software Technologies (CPST)

⁃ CPST is an American-Israeli cybersecurity company that operates out of Tel Aviv.

⁃ The founder of CPST, Gil Shwed, served in Israel’s intelligence unit, Unit 8200.

⁃ CPST has collaborated with the Israeli government to address national cyber needs.

⁃ Dan was also once the president and business manager of EMEA for Amdocs.

⁃ Amdocs is an Israeli based private communications company that was investigated by US federal agencies in the early 2000s in connection with the 9/11 attacks due to suspicions that their billing records might have been used to monitor government phone calls.

⁃ In 2016, Dan was named one of the ‘100 most influential CIOs in the world’ by CIO magazine.

Chief Marketing Officer | Amazia Keidar:

⁃ Previously worked as the Vice President of international marketing for Cellebrite.

⁃ Cellebrite is an Israeli cyber tech firm known for selling its products to law enforcement agencies in Latin American countries.

Vice President of EMEA | Edo Soroka:

⁃ Previously worked as the Sales Director for AnyVision, an Israeli start-up accused of surveilling Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Chief Financial Officer | Erez Hershkovitz:

⁃ Previously worked as the CFO for Voyager Labs, an Israeli company sued by Meta for using nearly 40,000 fake Facebook accounts to collect data on an estimated 600,000 users.

Vice President of Product Management | Nir Stern:

⁃ Served in the Israeli Air Force.

Vice President of Research and Development | Avidan Lamdan:

⁃ Worked as an engineer in the Israeli Military.

The Company’s General Counsel | Udi Abraham:

⁃ Former Israeli Military Captain.

⁃ Worked for Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, for five years.

Vice President of Pre-sales | Elad Elazar:

⁃ Former Major in the Israeli Military.

The Head of AU10TIX’s Asia-Pacific Sector | Rom Amir:

⁃ Former Israeli Army Lieutenant.

So, have you noticed the pattern I said you were gonna notice?

Now that you know the people behind AU10TIX, alarm bells should already be ringing.

You can read Censored Men’s in-depth thread on AU10TIX by clicking here.

Many on X are celebrating this as a victory, and it is. However, stay alert, because whether it’s Israeli intelligence or US intelligence, one of them is likely monitoring everything you say and do and already has all your private info. These days, when you log onto social media, it’s like floating in a sea of sharks in a “chum” bathing suit—especially after the Supreme Court’s crushing blow to free speech.

Revolver:

American liberty took a crushing blow earlier today at the hands of Amy Coney Barrett, Chief Justice John Roberts, and the three liberals on the court. The case is called Murthy v. Missouri.

USA Today:

WASHINGTON−The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed the Biden administration an election-year victory, throwing out a conservative challenge to the administration’s push to get social media companies to remove posts it considered misinformation.

The 6-3 decision, led by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was a response to a suit that came during a hot-button period on social media when people were posting about COVID-19, vaccines, Fauci, and other emotional topics. Justices Samual Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Barrett, writing for the 6-3 majority, said the challengers argued that unfettered speech on social media is critical to their work as scientists, pundits and activists.

“But they do not point to any specific instance of content moderation that caused them identifiable harm,” Barrett wrote. “They have therefore failed to establish an injury that is sufficiently ‘concrete and particularized.’”

[…]

Justice Alito minced no words in describing what a crushing blow this is for our freedoms. USA Today continues:

In the dissent, Alito complained that the majority “unjustifiably refuses to address this serious threat to the First Amendment.”

“For months, high-ranking Government officials placed unrelenting pressure on Facebook to suppress Americans’ free speech,” Alito wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

By dismissing the case without deciding the underlying First Amendment issue, the justices avoided saying when governments go too far in interacting with media platforms about their content.

RELATED: Supreme Court deals crushing blow to American liberty…

Sadly, governments worldwide are determined not to let the internet be a free marketplace of ideas. They’re fighting tooth and nail to control, monitor, and weaponize social media. This means that regardless of who’s handling your personal data, if they decide to spy on you, they will find a way.

S

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