"Bezos' Cellphone Hacked After Receiving Message from Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman"

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] It has been revealed belatedly that Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post (WP) and CEO of Amazon, was hacked via his mobile phone in 2018. The hacker is reported to be Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who has been mentioned as the mastermind behind the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist. Khashoggi had worked as a columnist for WP.

On the 21st (local time), the daily newspaper The Guardian reported, citing sources, that Bezos received a WhatsApp message on May 1, 2018, from the personal account of Crown Prince bin Salman, after which his phone was hacked. The hacking occurred five months before the Khashoggi murder incident.

According to digital forensic analysis, encrypted messages were sent from the number used by Crown Prince bin Salman, and these messages appeared to contain malicious files intended to infiltrate the device, The Guardian reported. Anonymous sources said that a large amount of data was leaked from Bezos’ phone within hours. The Guardian stated, "There is no additional information on the specific content of the leak," but added, "The fact that the future Saudi king was personally involved in an attack targeting the founder of Amazon in the U.S. is expected to shock Wall Street and Silicon Valley alike."

The Guardian also focused on the background of the January last year report by the U.S. entertainment media National Enquirer about Bezos’ extramarital affair. At that time, the media reported the affair based on text messages exchanged between Bezos and former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, as well as photos of her body. There were suspicions that the Saudi side had extracted Bezos’ information and passed the affair details to the media, but Saudi Arabia denied this. The media also claimed to have received the tip from Sanchez’s brother.

Digital forensic experts began analyzing Bezos’ phone after the report was published in January last year and gave weight to the possibility that Saudi Arabia had accessed the phone. The Guardian explained that Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur who investigated the Khashoggi murder case, stated there is credible evidence supporting this.

The Guardian reported that the Saudi government and AMI, the parent company of National Enquirer, denied these reports, and that Bezos’ legal representatives said they had nothing further to add beyond stating that he is cooperating with the investigation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.