"Oil giant has denied involvement, but climate activists are closely watching court case against Israeli private investigator for answers"
"A group of American climate activists are closely watching a US court case that could reveal who hired hackers to target their inboxes a decade ago.
In 2015, a set of explosive media reports revealed that ExxonMobil’s own scientists determined as early as 1982 that the extraction and burning of fossil fuels caused the climate crisis – but Exxon went on to fund climate denial campaigns anyway. The reports prompted attorneys general to investigate the company.
In 2016, as a group of climate activists sought to hold Exxon accountable for climate deception, they found themselves targeted by a wave of phishing emails. Kert Davies, the founder of the Climate Investigations Center, a group that monitors the fossil fuel industry, received more than 80 phishing emails, including one pretending to be his colleague sharing a Dropbox document titled “ExxonMobil (confidential).docx”. A Department of Justice investigation eventually confirmed the successful hacking of more than 100 victims, including the group of Exxon critics.
Details about who ordered the hacking operation have long been a mystery. But this spring, the extradition and arraignment of the Israeli private investigator Amit Forlit in a US federal court in New York sent shock waves through the American climate community. With Forlit now facing hacking and wire fraud charges, court documents allege the hack was ordered by a firm representing Exxon itself."
