UN Report May Confirm Saudi Crown Prince Hacked Amazon Founder’s Phone

The United Nations is set to release the report of an investigation into allegation that Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, hacked into the mobile phone of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos.

Expert analysis suggests the tech expert’s phone was hacked following an exchange between the Amazon.com Inc. chief executive officer and bin Salman on encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.

In mid- 2018, the prince sent a message to Bezos which precedes the hack as investigators found digital evidence suggesting it contained code which they allege led to the breach of the tech expert’s phone according to Bloomberg.

A forensic analysis revealed with moderate certainty that a WhatsApp account used by bin Salman was involved, another source told Bloomberg.

The Guardian newspaper had reported Tuesday that an “analysis had found that the theft of data from Bezos’s phone in 2018 started with an infected video file sent from bin Salman’s personal account.”

The Financial Times confirmed the hack and said the analysis was done by global business advisory firm FTI Consulting.

However, a representative of the mentioned firm did not confirm any involvement stating that: “We do not comment on, confirm or deny client engagements or potential engagements.”

The new details about the security breach that affected the billionaire follows a year after he divorced his wife, MacKenzie.

Leading to the divorce was an intimate text and a nude picture that Bezos sent to former television anchor, Lauren Sanchez Bezos made public by National Enquirer, which revealed an extra marital affair by the Amazon boss.

A security consultant for Bezos, Gavin de Becker reacting said he believed the Saudi Arabian government had gotten access to Bezos’s phone before the Enquirer exposed the affair how ever did not provide concrete evidence to back his claims.

Recall that the newspaper owned by the world’s richest man, Washington Post reported last year that the Central Intelligence Agency linked the crown prince to the 2018 murder of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Reacting to the hack allegation, Saudi embassy, @SaudiEmbassyUSA in a tweet expressed displeasure in the accusation called for an investigation into the issue.

“Recent media reports that suggest the Kingdom is behind a hacking of Mr. Jeff Bezos’ phone are absurd.

“We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out.” The tweet reads.

— Saudi Embassy (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) January 22, 2020

Meanwhile, it is not certain if the alleged hack has tampered with sensitive Amazon corporate information.

Recent media reports that suggest the Kingdom is behind a hacking of Mr. Jeff Bezos' phone are absurd. We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out.

— Saudi Embassy (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) January 22, 2020

99% of the accusations aginst the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are based on unnamed fake sources! If any on those claims were true, why no evidence have been presented yet! It is just a smear campaign sponsored by the enemies of Prince Mohammed in the ME and the West.

— بن هباس ?? (@5a1di) January 22, 2020

It's a known fact that the mistress of Jeff Bezos was sent nude photographs of him by him. Her brother found the pictures on his sister's device and sold them to a tabloid paper. He has no one to blame nut himself!

— Annette (@orchardcitygal) January 22, 2020