{"id":54705,"date":"2023-11-28T14:10:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T14:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packetstormsecurity.com\/news\/view\/35240\/Critics-Of-Serbias-Government-Targeted-With-Military-Grade-Spyware.html"},"modified":"2023-11-28T14:10:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T14:10:23","slug":"critics-of-serbias-government-targeted-with-military-grade-spyware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/critics-of-serbias-government-targeted-with-military-grade-spyware\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics Of Serbia’s Government Targeted With Military-Grade Spyware"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Critics of Serbia<\/a>\u2019s nationalist government who have documented the country\u2019s endemic corruption were targeted with military-grade spyware earlier this year, according to new findings by security researchers.<\/p>\n

The attempted hacking of two Serbian pro-democracy activists \u2013 who have asked not to be named to protect their safety \u2013 was ultimately not successful because both individuals\u2019 Apple iPhones had been updated with the latest iOS software, which the researchers said protected the devices from being infiltrated.<\/p>\n

The individuals were first alerted of the attempted hack by Apple, which sent both an alert that they may have been targeted by a state-sponsored actor. The warning was later confirmed after investigations by researchers at Access Now, the Share Foundation in Serbia, the Citizen Lab at the Munk School at the University of Toronto, and Amnesty International.<\/p>\n

The findings come just months after researchers revealed that Russian journalists who are critical of Vladamir Putin and living in the European Union had also been targeted with spyware<\/a>. The Council of Europe and the European parliament have sought to advance policies that would curb the use of spyware, but the emergence of new cases inside the bloc point to an apparent willingness by some European governments to continue to use spyware to suppress and intimidate political critics.<\/p>\n

Natalia Krapiva, the tech-legal counsel at Access Now, said: \u201cThese findings are extremely worrying for the rule of law and democracy in Serbia. Uncontrolled use of commercial spyware is poison not only for human rights, but also security and democratic institutions in any country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers found that the Serbians had been targeted about a minute apart from each other on or about 16 August 2023. Access Now and Citizen Lab discovered traces of the attempted attack, which sought to take advantage of a possible vulnerability in iPhone\u2019s HomeKit application.<\/p>\n

The researchers said use of the technical vulnerability was \u201cconsistent\u201d with those previously used by states improperly using one of the world\u2019s most sophisticated cyber weapons, known as Pegasus, which is sold by Israel\u2019s NSO Group. When Pegasus is successfully deployed against a target, it can essentially take over a mobile phone, including turning the phone into a portable listening device. It can also access information held in encrypted applications and view a user\u2019s photographs and messages.<\/p>\n

The researchers in the Serbian case could not definitively confirm what kind of spyware was used because available forensic indicators were limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t attributing these attacks to a particular operator at this time, but we note that a decade of Citizen Lab investigations have found that Serbia is a regular customer for mercenary spyware and other commercial surveillance technologies,\u201d said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab.<\/p>\n

NSO said in a statement to the Guardian that Citizen Lab and Access Now\u2019s report were \u201cinconclusive\u201d. The company has repeatedly said that Pegasus is sold to governments for the purpose of being used in serious crime and terror investigations and that its use \u201csaves lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cNSO does not operate its technology and is not privy to the collected intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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