Fri 02 August 2019:
Israeli media reported on Sunday that footballers from Spain’s Real Madrid football club have refused to work with a fitness coach, because of his use of software developed by experts at the Israeli Intelligence Corps’ Unit 8200.
Unit 8200 is responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption.
The Israeli website Walla News reported that the Real Madrid footballers refused to work with fitness coach Javier Vidal, because of his use of the Zone 7 computer programme, which predicts when athletes are susceptible to injuries.
The programme was developed by Tal Brown and Eyal Akim, two former members of Unit 8200. It collects medical data about athletes and information about their fitness levels through a vest which measures 200 physical parameters, such as running speed and the power of jumps.
The Real Madrid Players apparently fear that the information could be sent to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Walla News said the programme is used by Israeli sports clubs, such as the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club.
However Israeli technology firms have previously been linked to the development of spyware and attempts to hack the telephones of Saudi and Emirati dissidents, such as journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
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