A forensic analysis commissioned by Bezos suggests that it's likely his phone was hacked in May 2018 via a file sent from a WhatsApp account used by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to reports in The Guardian and the Financial Times.
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The Saudi Crown Prince accused of hacking Jeff Bezos' phone met with more than a dozen tech execs and celebs during the same US trip. From Tim Cook to Oprah, here's everyone Mohammed bin Salman met with.
There's a good chance Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and venture capitalist Peter Thiel are having their phones examined right about now, in the wake of new reports about the hacking of Jeff Bezos' phone.
Mohammed bin Salman
The hacking attack came just weeks after Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, met in person with bin Salman during the latter's tour of Silicon Valley and the US. The two swapped phone numbers during a dinner meeting and later connected via WhatsApp.
But Bezos wasn't the only tech luminary or celebrity who met with bin Salman on his three-week tour . So too did Cook, Page, Brin, Thiel and plenty of others. There is no evidence that their phones were also compromised, but given the stunning allegations about how Bezos' phone was hacked, it's not unreasonable to wonder whether others may have swapped phone numbers with the crown prince and could be at risk.
The Saudi US embassy called the allegations of hacking "absurd" in a tweet on Tuesday.
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Here are some of the tech executives and other notable figures who met with the Saudi crown prince on his 2018 trip, according to The New York Times :
Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai
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Hiroshi Lockheimer, head of Google's Android and Chrome divisions
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Venture capitalist Peter Thiel
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An assortment of other venture capitalists and tech leaders, including Sam Altman and Vinod Khosla.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook
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Apple's executive team, including Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams
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And Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates
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But bin Salman didn't just meet with tech titans. He also met with executives from other industries, including media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
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And Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.
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Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg
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AMC CEO Adam Aron
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And he met with plenty of celebrities, including Oprah.
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Michael Douglas
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Morgan Freeman
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And Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
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Jeff Spicer/Getty
See Also:
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- 6 big things we still don't know in the bombshell report of how Jeff Bezos' phone was hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
- Jeff Bezos' phone was reportedly hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018
- Instagram keeps a detailed list of everything it thinks you're interested in here's how to find it
SEE ALSO: Jeff Bezos' phone was reportedly hacked by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, in a new twist to the saga of his dramatic divorce here's everything we know so far
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