Page 24 - AT

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 4 January 2020
Co-creator defends suspected UAE spying app called ToTok

By JON GAMBRELL Abu Dhabi Global Market
ABU DHABI, United Arab filings is Hamad Khalfan
Emirates (AP) — If the pop- al-Shamsi, whom Marczak
ular ToTok video and voice identified as the public re-
calling app is a spying tool lations manager of the of-
of the United Arab Emir- fice of Abu Dhabi Sheikh
ates, that's news to its co- Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Na-
creator. hyan. Sheikh Tahnoun is a
Giacomo Ziani defended brother to Sheikh Moham-
his work in an interview with med bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
The Associated Press and the powerful crown prince
said he had no knowledge of Abu Dhabi who has run
that people and compa- the country from day-to-
nies linked to the project day since its president,
had ties to the country's Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al
intelligence apparatus, de- Nahyan, suffered a stroke
spite a recent report in The in January 2014.
New York Times. Sheikh Tahnoun has served
Millions downloaded the as the UAE's national secu-
ToTok app during the sever- rity adviser since 2016. The
al months it was available sheikh's adopted son, Has-
in the Apple and Google san al-Rumaithi, is the sole
stores. Its surge in popular- director of Breej Holding
ity was likely driven by the Ltd., Marczak said, citing
fact that it allowed users In this Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019 photo, Giacomo Ziani, the co-founder of the app ToTok, speaks to market filings.
to make internet calls that The Associated Press in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Similarly, an executive at
have long been banned Associated Press Sheikh Tahnoun's company
in the UAE, a U.S.-allied na- Royal Group, Osama al-
tion where the largest city is pany collected conversa- allowing your life to be sible online database of Ahdali, is the sole director
Dubai. tion data, saying the soft- opened up to the whims of companies operating out of ToTok Technology Ltd.,
The ban means Apple ware demanded the same national security as seen by of the Abu Dhabi Global Marczak said.
iPhones and computers access to devices as other the UAE government," said Market, an economic free Royal Group did not re-
sold in the UAE do not carry common communication Bill Marczak, a computer zone set up in the Emi- spond to a request for com-
Apple's FaceTime calling apps. Emirati authorities science researcher at the rati capital. After suspicions ment, nor did Emirati offi-
app. Calls on Skype, What- insisted that they "prohibit University of California, emerged about ToTok, re- cials, Apple and Google.
sApp and other similar pro- any kind of data breach Berkley, who has studied cords of the two firms no For now, Ziani said he is
grams do not work. and unlawful interception." ToTok and other suspected longer appeared online. focused on getting ToTok
Ziani, a 32-year-old na- But this federation of seven Emirati spying operations. Following an inquiry about back into the Apple and
tive of Venice, Italy, said sheikhdoms ruled by he- "In this case, you're essen- the firms from an AP jour- Google app stores. He
ToTok won rapid approval reditary leaders already tially having people install nalist, their information re- mentioned plans to have
from UAE telecommunica- conducts mass surveillance the spyware themselves as appeared Tuesday night ToTok become like China's
tions regulators, something and has been internation- opposed to hacking into in the database. Market all-encompassing app We-
long sought by established ally criticized for targeting the phone." spokeswoman Joan Lew Chat, handling payments,
competitors that remain activists, journalists and oth- An American diplomat, blamed a "data migration" social media posts and oth-
banned. He attributed that ers. Ziani repeatedly said he who spoke on condition of problem for their disap- er high-frequency activities.
decision to the monopoly knew nothing about that, anonymity to discuss secu- pearance. G42 appears to already
on the telecom market nor had any knowledge rity matters, said local em- Information from that da- have filed paperwork for a
held by two companies that a firm invested in ToTok bassy and consular staff tabase shows ToTok's sole possible payment compa-
that are majority-owned included staff with ties to received orders to remove registered shareholder as ny in Abu Dhabi.
by the government. ToTok's an Emirati security firm scru- the app from all U.S. gov- Group 42, a new Abu Dha- That could create an Emi-
small market share, he said, tinized abroad for hiring for- ernment devices. That was bi firm that describes itself rati version of WeChat, a
would not cut as deeply mer CIA and National Se- only after the Times, citing as an artificial intelligence service used by more than
into their business as major curity Agency staffers. anonymous U.S. officials, and cloud-computing 1 billion people in which
firms if allowed access. He also said he did not described the app as a company. Ziani said ToTok Chinese government offi-
In this nation of 9.4 mil- know about alleged ties "spying tool" of the Emirati has another substantial in- cials routinely censor posts.
lion people where all but linking companies involved government. vestor he declined to iden- Dissidents suspect it of al-
a sliver of the population with ToTok to Sheikh Tahn- Ziani alleged, without pro- tify. lowing surveillance.
comes from another coun- oun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, viding evidence, that criti- Also known as G42, the Ziani insisted a former NSA
try, ToTok represented what the Emirates' national secu- cism of ToTok came more company's CEO is Peng hacker named Patrick War-
appeared to be the first rity adviser. from professional jealousy Xiao, who for years ran dle, who analyzed ToTok,
government-blessed app "I was not aware, and I'm and U.S.-China trade ten- Pegasus, a subsidiary of said the app "simply does
that would allow them to even not aware now of sions than security con- DarkMatter, an Emirati se- what it claims to do."
connect freely to loved who was who, who was do- cerns. curity firm under scrutiny for However, Ziani ignored the
ones back home. That ing what in the past," Ziani ToTok described itself on hiring former CIA and NSA next sentence in Wardle's
drew everyone from labor- said. Apple as coming from de- staffers, as well as others analysis, which described
ers to diplomatic staffers to By installing the app, users veloper Breej Holding Ltd. from Israel. "the genius of the whole
download it amid a pub- agreed to allow access to and on Google as being "G42 has no connection to mass surveillance opera-
licity campaign by state- their mobile device's mi- from ToTok Pte., a Singa- DarkMatter, whatsoever," tion" the app could repre-
linked and government- crophone, pictures, loca- pore-based firm. the company told AP in sent by offering "in-depth
supporting media in the tion information and other Both ToTok and Breej Hold- a statement. It did not re- insight" into '"a large per-
Emirates. data. ing Ltd. had been regis- spond to further queries. centage of the country's
Ziani denied that the com- "By using this app, you're tered in a publicly acces- G42's sole director listed in population."q