NSO Group
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Investors’ pledge to fight spyware undercut by past investments in US malware maker
On Monday, the Biden administration announced that six new countries had joined an international coalition to fight the proliferation of commercial spyware, sold by companies such as NSO Group or Intellexa. Now, some investors have announced that they too are committed to fighting spyware. But at least one of those…
Earlier this week, the U.S. government announced sanctions against the founder of a controversial government spyware maker, Tal Dilian, and his business associate, Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou. In announcing the…
Last year, Apple launched a special new protection for at-risk users — such as journalists and activists — called Lockdown Mode, designed to limit some regular iPhone, iPad, Mac and…
Microsoft has released patches to fix zero-day vulnerabilities in two popular open source libraries that affect several Microsoft products, including Skype, Teams and its Edge browser. But Microsoft won’t say…
A special commission within Poland’s Senate concluded that the government’s use of spyware, like the one made by NSO Group, is illegal. The commission announced on Thursday the conclusion of…
Apple released security updates on Thursday that patch two zero-day exploits — meaning hacking techniques that were unknown at the time Apple found out about them — used against a…
Last year, Apple launched a new feature for iPhone users who are worried about getting targeted with sophisticated spyware, such as journalists or human rights defenders. Now, researchers say they…
The Biden administration on Monday announced a new executive order that would broadly ban U.S. federal agencies from using commercially developed spyware that poses threats to human rights and national…
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block a lawsuit brought by WhatsApp challenging the alleged mass phone hacking by Israeli spyware maker NSO Group. Meta-owned WhatsApp first filed a…
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Hands-on with Lockdown Mode in iOS 16
Lockdown Mode is a new Apple feature you should hope you’ll never need to use. But for those who do, like journalists, politicians, lawyers and human rights defenders, it’s a last line of defense against nation-state spyware designed to punch through an iPhone’s protections. The new security feature was announced…
Security researchers have linked the discovery of an actively exploited but since-fixed zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome to an Israeli spyware maker targeting journalists in the Middle East. Cybersecurity company…
Apple said Wednesday it will bring a new “Lockdown Mode” to its upcoming iPhone and Mac software that will switch off certain features aimed at helping targeted individuals combat government-grade…
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Google is notifying Android users targeted by Hermit government-grade spyware
Security researchers at Lookout recently tied a previously unattributed Android mobile spyware, dubbed Hermit, to Italian software house RCS Lab. Now, Google threat researchers have confirmed much of Lookout’s findings and are notifying Android users whose devices were compromised by the spyware. Hermit is a commercial spyware known to be…
Security researchers at Lookout have released new details about an Android spyware deployed in targeted attacks by national governments, with victims in Kazakhstan, Syria and Italy. The spyware, which Lookout…
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NSO hacked new Pegasus victims weeks after Apple sought injunction
Investigators say they have found evidence that a Jordanian journalist and human rights defender’s iPhone was hacked with the Pegasus spyware just weeks after Apple sued the spyware’s maker NSO Group to stop it from targeting Apple’s customers. Award-winning journalist Suhair Jaradat’s phone was hacked with the notorious spyware as…
The European Parliament voted on Thursday to create a new “committee of inquiry” to investigate allegations that European member states acquired and used the powerful Pegasus mobile spyware. Lawmakers voted…
A Mexican businessman admitted in federal court this week to selling spyware and hacking tools from Italy and Israel to customers in the United States and Mexico. The Justice Department…
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has called for a bloc-wide ban on the controversial Pegasus spyware tool, warning its use could lead to an “unprecedented level of intrusiveness.” Israeli’s…
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Poland’s phone spyware scandal raises doubts over 2019 election
A brewing scandal over the alleged historical use of controversial mobile spyware by Poland’s ruling party against an opposition lawmaker is raising questions over the legitimacy of the country’s 2019 parliamentary elections. Internet watchdog Citizen Lab found that the NSO Group’s notorious spyware Pegasus was used to spy on three…
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A new spyware-for-hire, Predator, caught hacking phones of politicians and journalists
While NSO Group was taking flak for hacking into the phones of journalists, activists and human rights defenders, an entire class of spyware makers and surveillance-for-hire outfits were operating as normal, largely unnoticed. These private surveillance groups develop and deploy never-before-seen exploits that quietly hack into and steal the contents…
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit against spyware maker DarkMatter, along with three former members of U.S. intelligence or military agencies, for allegedly hacking the iPhone of a…
Apple has sent threat notification alerts to victims of state-sponsored hackers in Thailand, El Salvador and Uganda, just hours after filing a lawsuit against Israeli spyware maker NSO Group. At…
Apple has launched a lawsuit against NSO Group, the maker of the nation-state spyware Pegasus, seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the spyware maker from using any Apple product or…
Surveillance software developer NSO Group may have a very tough road ahead. The US Commerce Department has added NSO to its Entity List, effectively banning trade with the firm.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that it will ban the export of hacking tools to authoritarian governments in an effort to curb violations of human rights and other…
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Apple patches an NSO zero-day flaw affecting all devices
Apple has released security updates for a zero-day vulnerability that affects every iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Citizen Lab, which discovered the vulnerability and was credited with the find, urges users to immediately update their devices. The technology giant said iOS 14.8 for iPhones and iPads, as well as…
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A new NSO zero-click attack evades Apple’s iPhone security protections, says Citizen Lab
A Bahraini human rights activist’s iPhone was silently hacked earlier this year by a powerful spyware sold to nation-states, defeating new security protections that Apple designed to withstand covert compromises, say researchers at Citizen Lab. The activist, who remains in Bahrain and asked not to be named, is a member…
Over the weekend, an international consortium of news outlets reported that several authoritarian governments — including Mexico, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates — used spyware developed by NSO Group…
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A new ‘digital violence’ platform maps dozens of victims of NSO Group’s spyware
For the first time, researchers have mapped all the known targets, including journalists, activists, and human rights defenders, whose phones were hacked by Pegasus, a spyware developed by NSO Group. Forensic Architecture, an academic unit at Goldsmiths, University of London that investigates human rights abuses, scoured dozens of reports from…
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How Jamaica failed to handle its JamCOVID scandal
Amber Group claimed it faced “cyberattacks, hacking and mischievous players.” In reality, the app was just not that secure.
