35 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
35 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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aliases:
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- Degem Computers
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- Degem Systems
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tags:
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- Organization
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- Private
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- Technology
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- Israel
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- PROMIS
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category: "Private Organization"
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created: 2024-04-25
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updated: 2026-09-22
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summary: "Degem was an Israeli-controlled computer company with operations in Israel, Guatemala, and Transkei, alleged to have been the primary vehicle through which Robert Maxwell distributed backdoored PROMIS software to foreign governments worldwide."
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location: "Israel"
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---
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[[Degem]] was an Israeli-controlled computer company with operations in [[Israel]], [[Guatemala]], and [[Transkei]] (a Bantustan homeland controlled by [[South Africa]]). It was originally controlled by Israeli military intelligence and provided computer services to South Africa and Guatemala before passing into the hands of [[Robert Maxwell]].[^1]
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### Ownership and PROMIS Distribution
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Maxwell acquired Degem after its previous owner, [[Yaacov Meridor]], faced a scandal. According to Gordon Thomas's account in *Gideon's Spies* (1999), drawing on Israeli intelligence sources, Maxwell used Degem as his principal commercial vehicle for distributing a surveillance-modified version of [[PROMIS]] software to foreign governments and institutions, with the operation coordinated through [[Rafael Eitan]] and [[LAKAM]]. The modified PROMIS contained a covert trapdoor enabling remote monitoring of database queries.[^2]
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Through Degem, Maxwell sold PROMIS-derived software to agencies in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Poland, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Nicaragua. In 1985, an abridged version was sold to [[Credit Suisse]], providing intelligence access to Israeli accounts held there. In the late 1980s, Degem technicians installed the trapdoor-equipped software on IBM computers delivered to the Soviet Union, an arrangement facilitated by the lifting of IBM export restrictions.[^1]
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In Guatemala, Degem worked through [[Manfred Herrmann]]'s Sedra company to deploy PROMIS terminals at offices, railway stations, airports, and remote roadblocks, contributing to a surveillance system tracking suspected dissidents. [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] alleged that in Transkei Degem's implementation of PROMIS was used as a tool against black revolutionary groups including the [[African National Congress]], providing information that led to the detention, disappearance, or death of activists.[^1]
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### Official Findings
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The [[Nicholas J. Bua|Bua Report]] (1993) found no credible evidence that enhanced PROMIS had been distributed to any foreign entity, concluding that only public-domain versions of the software had been shared internationally. The report found the allegations of a Maxwell-Degem distribution network to rest on unsupported claims from sources it characterized as unreliable.[^3]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network.* TrineDay, 1992.
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[^2]: Thomas, Gordon. *Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad.* St. Martin's Press, 1999.
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[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993.
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