Jeff Bezos & # 39; s investigators believe "with great confidence" that Saudi Arabia has access to the phone
After the revelation that The National Enquirer had received intimate texts and images between Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanches, Bezos commissioned a survey of who was behind data breaches. In a post on The Daily Beast Bezos security consultant Gavin De Becker says that his team of investigators has "concluded that the Saudis had access to the Bezos phone," even though he says they have harbored I have been able to link that access with the data claimed by Enquirer .
In February, Bezos launched a remarkable post on Medium, saying that Enquirer and its parent company, AMI, had tried to squeeze out and extort him with pictures he had anointed with a woman with whom he was has a relationship. The story is part of a much larger one that flows into the rivalry between Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, and President Donald Trump, who has described the publication as a "lobbyist newspaper" and includes an International angle as involving Saudi Arabia, which eventually sees Bezos and Post as a threat.
After Bezos published the post, he directed the Becker to find out how the tabloid had gained access to his pictures and texts. Word came out quickly that it was Sanchez's brother, Michael, who gave the publication the text, but other theories have since come: That Bezos was hacked, that an intelligence agency leaked the images to the Trump administration, or that it was from a foreign government agency, like Saudi Arabia or UAE.
In his post for The Daily Beast De Becker pointed to details suggesting that Michael Sanchez might not have been the source of the text: that Enquirer had contacted Michael Sanchez after he had already seen text exchange between Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, who "clearly and clearly would mean that the original information came from other channels ̵[ads1]1; another source or method."
He continues to say that his investigation concluded with "great confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone and received private information." He says they did not "easily reach our conclusions" and have since handed over their findings for federal officials. But he also says that while they believe that Saudi Arabia may have access to Bezo's phone, it is unclear whether they passed that information to AMI.
de Becker points to Enquirer 's history and relations with the Kingdom, and paints a picture that the country uses AMI and its publications to put pressure on people it considers enemies such as Bezos and Washington Post .
Bezos referred to Saudi Arabia in his post and said that AMI had been investigated for "various acts they have taken on behalf of the Saudi government," pointed out the Washington Post s Jamal Khashoggi's murder cover. and that "the Saudi angle seems to hit a particularly sensitive nerve." AMI has since released a statement and denied that Saudi Arabia was involved.
