A Saudi security source revealed that the General Intelligence Service, especially the Cybersecurity Department, started an incitement campaign to close prominent opponents’ accounts on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok.
Dozens of social media accounts of Saudi activists living abroad were already closed after Saudi authorities issued official death certificates and sent them to the social media platforms’ administrations.
Media reports earlier revealed that IronNet, headed by the former US National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander, worked out a deal with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and the cyber institute led by one of his closest aides, Saud al-Qahtani, to help the Saudi ruler train the next generation of Saudi hackers in early 2018, months before journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
The report pointed out that Saudi Arabia’s agreement with IronNet was part of a host of moves to step up its cyber capabilities, coinciding with a campaign against the kingdom’s critics abroad. Khashoggi, then a Washington Post columnist and prominent Salman critic, received a series of threatening messages, including one from Qahtani, warning him to remain silent.
IronNet’s agreement tied to the alleged mastermind behind the killing of Khashoggi is not listed on the IronNet website, and it is not known if the business relationship still stands — or what the extent of it ever was. IronNet and representatives of the Saudi government did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The report further suggests that Qahtani’s role as enforcer on behalf of bin Salman, well known prior to the Khashoggi slaying, has closely followed the young prince’s meteoric rise as the effective leader of Saudi Arabia.
Qahtani took the helm of official state-backed efforts to expand Saudi Arabia’s cyber offensive capabilities in October 2017, when he was named president of a committee called the Electronic Security and Software Alliance, later renamed the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones.
Earlier this year, SAFCSP signed an agreement with Spire Solutions, a consulting firm that partners with a wide range of cyber intelligence contractors. Haboob, another cyber venture promoted by Qahtani, is a private venture that recruits hackers on behalf of the Saudi government. Haboob’s chair, Naif bin Lubdah, is on SAFCSP’s board of directors.
