Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone was allegedly hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman
Various media reports regarding the hacking of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' mobile phone have surfaced. According to the Guardian newspaper, the Amazon CEO's mobile was hacked after he had received a message from Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. The report, however, did not name any sources for the same. It all began in 2018 when an infected video file was sent from Mohammad bin Salman's personal WhatsApp. Now, according to digital forensic analysis, the infected file may have resulted in data theft from Jeff Bezos' phone.
The Guardian, however, said it was not clear as to what data was stolen from the phone. The report comes almost a year after Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie announced their divorce after 25 years of marriage.
Several reports in the past, based on text messages sent by Bezos had also pointed towards an extramarital affair between the Amazon CEO and Lauren Sanchez, a former television anchor.
The Saudi Embassy, meanwhile, took to Twitter on Wednesday and said, "Recent media reports that suggest the Kingdom is behind the 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."
According to what Gavin de Becker, a security consultant for Bezos believed, the Saudi Arabian government had accessed Bezos's phone before the Enquirer exposed the affair. He didn't provide any direct evidence to back up his claims, which he said came from "our investigators and several experts."
De Becker cited the Enquirer's business relationship with the Saudis, as well as tough coverage of the murder of a critic of the Saudi regime by the Bezos-owned Washington Post, as reasons why bin Salman might seek to harm the Amazon founder.
The Central Intelligence Agency linked the crown prince to the 2018 murder of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a report with the newspaper stated.
De Becker, however, declined to comment on the Guardian report beyond the lengthy statement last year, which was posted on the news site The Daily Beast. The Saudi embassy called the report "absurd".
It's unclear whether the alleged hack of Bezos' phone accessed any sensitive Amazon corporate information.
Amazon, meanwhile, hasn't commented on De Becker's accusation.
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