In martial arts, a black belt is associated with wisdom and expertise, but in online business, it may also indicate severe incompetence.
What is the most valuable asset in business? There are several decent answers: the people, the money, the connections, and the power.
And the absolute power nowadays is information. You can influence any event by obtaining accurate and up-to-the-minute data. Imagine for a second, if you had a chance to gain insider information right before the negotiations. That changes the whole thing and your position becomes unbeatable.
Another good example is your smartphone, fully loaded with instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.
All of them have direct access to users’ personal lives, including private Information, expenses, location, pictures, network connections, finances, and the list goes on. Entities, that own Instant messengers, claim to take users’ personal information seriously, which is at odds with reality.
There are miscellaneous ways to snatch any personal data from the target’s mobile phone.
SAGI NATAN LAHMI. THE PERSON OF NO REPUTATION.
Name in Hebrew: שון דורי
How would you describe the personality of a man like Sagi?
“The power behind the throne, the player behind the scenes,
eminence grise, the gray cardinal, dark horse, a hardly
recognizable businessman, a classic power dater.”
Sound mystical or even scary? The answer is no.
In the end, it doesn’t matter, it’s just a person with no past and
thus has no future.
This is a kind of a person who does not exist online. Sahi Lachmi could give some practical advice on how to maintain crystal clear cyber hygiene, use multiple aliases, create various personalities, or even introduce yourself to personal information removal services.
In real life, Sagi Lami is better known for his exceptional talent and quite rare expertise, inherited mostly in Russia, called “problem-solving”.
“Brother! Any type, any complexity. Or maybe you need to create them?”
If looking for cyber-attacks, DDoS, defamation video campaigns, web spam, or breaches of personal data, no need to browse the Dark Web….. just call Sagi.
There is one important peculiarity of this type of people. Their existence is due to the presence of a “protector-benefactor”, a well-known and powerful businessman. That is why Sagi Lahmi especially cherishes friendship with Ofer Baazov.
There is not that much information available on Google on Mr. Sagi Lami.
Your search will be literally crowned by two references:
– “Bitcostar OU” an Estonian company, that was launched together back in 2017
– A couple of web pages with information on the abandoned trademark “Rachel Mere” (non-medicated hair care preparation kits).
And there is no surprise. Sagi Natan Lani has used his “right to be forgotten”.
UNEXPECTED ANONYMOUS EMAIL WITH A SURPRISE
Last week our editors received an anonymous email with a few URLs pointing to a popular file-sharing service. The files turned out to be audio and video records between a Russian hacker called Yosef Sanin (the real name was changed) and Mr. Sagi Lahmi, and several pdf files with a transcript of conversations. One pdf file contained the message to the journalists, stating that he is totally fed up with Mr. Sagi’s lies and warns all businessmen in Israel, Cyprus, and Dubai not to step into or cancel any existing business relations with Natan Lani. He also states that the reason he applied to journalists is because the records will unlikely be accepted as evidence in court. Obviously, no consent for recording was expressed by Mr. Sahi Natan Lahmi and this fact makes records inadmissible evidence. The message ended wishing us to get readers familiar with hacking price and procedure.
AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDINGS AUTHENTICITY VERIFICATION
Our editors’ team has carefully studied the records and came to the conclusion that the provided files are authentic, the voices were not modified in any way or generated with AI.
Translation of conversations from Russian into English and from Hebrew into English was also forwarded to language experts and native speakers to validate the quality.
After checking all the files received and a small research from open sources we are ready to highlight an ongoing story about hackers, corporate conflict, troubleshooters and clearly money interest. Also note that in this article we will not provide names of the victims of hacking for obvious reasons.
ROUTE TO HACK OF INSTANT MESSENGERS
The records shed light on the inner side of preparations for hacking but lack the beginning. From the first record we know that parties are already in the middle of negotiations. Hence it is unclear when Yosef Sanin and Mr. Sagi Lachmi met and what was the origin of their acquaintance.
So for us the story begins with Yosef providing a video record of him navigating through the messenger of the victim. Yosef could open any chat, see any file and text from any person in the contact list of the messenger. The phone was not in his full control, but he could see and download anything including files shared. Mr. Sagi Natn Lachmi was willing to receive access to Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp messengers of several people in a couple of days and Yosef was explaining that it was not possible. Hacker insisted on weeks instead of days so that the target could not notice anything and consequently unable to take precautionary measures.
Several phone calls between the two go in the same manner. They start from standard questions on weather and family but further face misunderstanding on the vision of the result and payment procedure. During further conversation Yosef insisted on payment and Sagi continued to trade hoping for a bargain. Promising Yosef mountains of treasures after and calling him “Bro” does not help much.
The situation changed when the hacker asked Sagi “who is Mr. Baazov”? adding he came across numerous files on him while hacking the phone for the first time. Sagi described him as his 15-year partner and brother. This fact was a rapid boost in mutual understanding and Sagi agreed to the sum asked with additional costs paid.
THAT STRANGE FEELING OF DEJAVU
This is not the first time for Mr. Ofer Baazov to be involved in a hacking story.
Not so long ago a court dispute was resolved in BVI Eastern Caribbean Court. In this case another partner of Mr. Baazov managed to receive hacked telegram messages of representatives of the other party right between the hearings. The judge was almost shocked, demanding an explanation of the source. Later on, claimant supportive documents claiming telegram messages were received from his partners in DNR – Donetsk People’s Republic (unrecognized state supported by Russia on the occupied territory of Ukraine). The judge considered such “evidence” as inadmissible, and the decision became a precedent on admissibility.
THE HACKER’S TESTIMONY
From Yosef’s explanations we know that there are two ways (at least) to hack someone’s phone, one is smart, the other is hard. The smart way is to hack the SS7 protocol and the hard one is to hack wi-fi.
WHAT IS SS7 PROTOCOL AND WHAT IT HAS TO DO WITH HACKING?
Signaling System No 7 known as just SS7 is a protocol system that connects one mobile phone network to another. In simple terms this unified protocol (the same for the USA and Zambia for ex.) is responsible for due connection and delivery of calls and SMS. First appearing in 1975 it was used just for internal communication of the AT&T operator. At that time SS7 had a minimum number of users and very narrow scope of use. Hence no encryption was introduced – it was just purposeless and would slow down system work. However, the system proved itself very efficient and every telecom company after AT&T used this time-tested solution. By the late 90s SS7 became a unified standard in the world and today 95% of calls and SMS messages are handled by this system. Together with simplicity and unification, expansion of SS7 brought poor protection and probability to spy on users for everyone using SS7. If one hacks the SS7 protocol, that person would gain access to the same amount of information and functionality as the mobile operator, including the ability to monitor locations or even to intercept calls and SMS.
Various vulnerability issues of the SS7 protocol are widely known to hackers. What to say, sometimes big private investigation companies and even governments are accused of taking advantage of SS7 weaknesses.
However, SS7 hacks are quite demanding in terms of special equipment and hacking skills. Additionally, telecom companies are aware of SS7 security weaknesses and do their best to limit unauthorized accesses. That reduces the risk for users but does not eliminate it.
WIFI CLONE AND PASSWORD THEFT
If you do not have access to SS7 protocol it is still possible to get to your phone. The other method is based on Wi-Fi cloning. You can either hack one’s wi-fi, or turn it off, mirror it with the same naming. When the target tries to access wi-fi with a password, you will get it. After that through wi-fi you may have access to the connected phone and download any information you need. Clearly the target may get suspicious, that is why downloading is usually made several or more days, file by file to avoid any detection.
THE MONEY. HOW MUCH FOR TELEGRAM AND WHATSAPP ACCOUNTS HACK?
From the very start, it was agreed that the payment would be split into 3 parts:
– general remuneration (35 000 EUR)
– the hacker’s team fee (35 000 EUR)
– expenses (about 25 000 EUR for equipment excluding travel costs).
The hacker finally agreed on 73 000 EUR which was later disputed several times and through records it is almost impossible to identify what is the final price. However, we may clearly state that hacking 3 messengers with a security level above average cost about 40 000 euro and it takes from two weeks to two months. The sum is solid but there is nothing impossible if you have enough money. Also, Yosef wanted to have a bonus in the amount of 35 000 euro, but it is unclear from further conversation if Sagi agreed to such terms.
WHAT’S THE POINT OF BAAZOV-LAHMI HIJACK OPERATION?
But why would anyone pay such a big amount of money, take the risks of going to jail or even lose reputation? The answer would be either money or revenge. Audio recording does not shed the light on the story behind Sagi’s obsession to hack phones, but there are some hints that would help to clear things up.
Firstly, Sagi wants to know telephone numbers and addresses of target contacts. He is repeating that the initial step is to look through the contacts, after that he will name specific persons with whom conversations need to be uploaded.
Secondly, to our surprise, the hack of email is never really discussed, Sagi is interested in messengers only. That is a sign current business activity of the targets is not a priority, but private life is much more of value.
Thirdly Sagi mentioned while explaining his interest to a particular target “we had 60%”. The exact same shareholding percentage which was a subject of the BVI process we already mentioned.
Fourthly, the time frame of interest is the last three months. It means some update is required. Sagi is not interested in the full history but wants to be aware of the current thoughts instead.
SO, WAS THE JOB DONE?
The final audio record leaves uncertainty. We do not know whether the second hacking attempt was successful or not. Anyway, the names of both the hacker and Sagi are known, and their voices recorded. That leads us to the conclusion that even if they hacked the targets’ messengers, their success will be short-lived as they will face legal and reputational consequences of their actions. We are witnessing a second round of fights between Josh Ofer Baazov and common sense. The first round, despite being supported by terrorists from the DPR, was a failure. Then he replaced the fighter. But Sagi Lahmi is a true disaster. So far he is struggling to complete the job, rather than to use its results. This attempt is worse in performance. Throughout his career Joshua Baazov proved to be a fighter and even the conqueror. He managed to buy a company for almost $5B without having even $100M turnover on his side. It requires skill, negotiation talent and business bravery. Amaya purchase story is a live drafted Hollywood plot being his greatest achievement and high pick for him. And there is only one way from the top of the mountain. 10 years have passed and “Golden boy of Poker” is now hiring a worn-out businessman to do a dirty hacking job for him. Retirement is not an option but what will be the outcome of the third round
Stay tuned on upcoming news as we are positive about 2 facts:
We will hear Mr. Sagi Lahmi’s voice in the soonest court hearing.
Keep away from Sagi Lachmi and Ofer Baazov, especially your phone and your business.
