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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A diagram from a Cognyte FalcoNet manual, demonstrating the functionality of the software-defined radio (SDR) base transceiver station (BTS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n November 11, 2024: Two days after this article reported roughly $1 million in surveillance purchases from Cognyte, Florida\u2019s Department of Law Enforcement agreed to pay the company an additional $2.13 million<\/a> for \u201cconfidential hardware and software,\u201d on October 23, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite its failed attempt to acquire the highly controversial Israeli spyware company NSO Group in 2018, the surveillance division of the Israeli technology company Verint Systems has largely remained outside of the spotlight since spinning out in the form of Cognyte Software in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the firm\u2019s surveillance equipment and software has been purchased by the State of Florida for more than $1 million since late last year as part of an effort to disrupt and interdict \u201cmass migration\u201d into the state through a federal program<\/a> known as Operation Vigilant Sentry (OVS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n A $793,000 purchase order<\/a> in December through the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was titled \u201c2023 OVS Mass Migration – Cognyte – Mission 00372 – FDLE Aviation Technology Upgrade – SP,\u201d referencing support for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) in Operation Vigilant Sentry. The listed deliverables include \u201cFalcoNet core system: 13 x full SDR [Software-Defined Radio] BTS [Base Transceiver Station] (2G\/3G\/4G\/5G) $765,000.00\u201d and an \u201cAirborne portable Deployment Kit designed to enable ad hoc temporary deployment of FalcoNet on board manned aircraft (fixed-wing or helicopter).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, Florida State Police purchased an airborne celltower simulator \u2014 colloquially known as a \u2018StingRay\u2019<\/a> due to the popular product previously produces by Harris Corporation \u2014 to collect the unique identifiers of migrants\u2019 phones and to intercept unencrypted communications. Such software-defined base stations are frequently<\/a> used to jam<\/a> normal signals to force phones to connect to their artificial station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A press release<\/a> from Governor DeSantis\u2019s office in March \u2014 three months after the FalcoNet purchase \u2014 stated that \u201cstate agencies have security and surveillance assets in South Florida and the Keys as a part of Operation Vigilant Sentry to stop illegal immigration at sea.\u201d The title and opening sentence asserted that the purpose was to stop \u201ca potential influx of illegal immigrants from Haiti.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A separate purchase order<\/a> from late August of last year discloses that Florida State Police paid $355,000 for \u201cconfidential\u201d software from Cognyte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A catalogue of “Hazardous Incident Response Equipment” (HIRE) available for resale by the controversial contractor Atlantic Diving Supply to New York State. The list includes several phone surveillance products from the Israeli firm Cognyte.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The last items in a \u201cHazardous Incident Response Equipment\u201d (HIRE) reseller catalogue for New York State produced by Atlantic Diving Supply, effective July 10, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A public reseller catalogue for \u201cHazardous Incident Response Equipment\u201d (HIRE) produced by the controversial contractor Atlantic Diving Supply for purchase by New York State explicitly lists not only Cognyte\u2019s FalcoNet airborne base station simulator, but also several other surveillance products, including \u201cMobile WASP\u201d and \u201cNano-SNIPER.\u201d Other available products from Cognyte through Atlantic Diving Supply, which also frequently resells<\/a> the mimicked Icom brand of radios booby-trapped by the Israeli government, include: “a \u201cTrue MAC revealer,\u201d \u201cMAC-IMSI Correlation,\u201d and a \u201cHoneypot,\u201d in reference to a phone\u2019s Media Access Control (MAC) address and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n