Security Affairs

AUGUST 28, 2022

Leaked documents show the surveillance firm Intellexa offering exploits for iOS and Android devices for $8 Million. Intellexa is an Israeli surveillance firm founded by Israeli entrepreneur Tal Dilian, it offers surveillance and hacking solution to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Pierluigi Paganini.

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Security Affairs

JUNE 24, 2022

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) revealed that the Italian spyware vendor RCS Labs was supported by ISPs to spy on users. TAG researchers tracked more than 30 vendors selling exploits or surveillance capabilities to nation-state actors. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook. Pierluigi Paganini.

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Security Affairs

MAY 22, 2024

A researcher discovered a consumer-grade spyware app on the check-in systems of at least three Wyndham hotels across the US. The security researcher Eric Daigle discovered a commercial spyware app, called pcTattletale, on the check-in systems of at least three Wyndham hotels across the US, TechCrunch first reported.

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Security Affairs

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Google’s TAG revealed that Commercial spyware vendors (CSV) were behind most of the zero-day vulnerabilities discovered in 2023. Surveillance software is used to spy on high-risk users, including journalists, human rights defenders, dissidents and opposition party politicians. ” concludes Google.

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Security Affairs

JUNE 22, 2020

Researchers at Amnesty International collected evidence that a Moroccan journalist was targeted with network injection attacks using NSO Group ‘s spyware. “Through our investigation we were able to confirm that his phone was targeted and put under surveillance during the same period he was prosecuted.”

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Security Affairs

APRIL 1, 2023

CISA has added nine flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, including bugs exploited by commercial spyware on mobile devices. The exploits were used to install commercial spyware and malicious apps on targets’ devices. The threat actors behind the attacks used both zero-day and n-day exploits in their exploits.

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Security Affairs

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) linked three exploitation frameworks to a Spanish surveillance spyware vendor named Variston. While tracking the activities of commercial spyware vendors, Threat Analysis Group (TAG) spotted an exploitation framework likely linked Variston IT, a Spanish firm. ” TAG concludes.

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Krebs on Security

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

7, researchers at Citizen Lab warned they were seeing active exploitation of a “zero-click,” zero-day flaw to install spyware on iOS devices without any interaction from the victim. Citizen Lab says the bug it discovered was being exploited to install spyware made by the Israeli cyber surveillance company NSO Group.

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Security Affairs

MARCH 3, 2023

The phone of an opposition-linked Polish mayor was infected with the powerful Pegasus spyware, local media reported. Reuters reported that the phone of an opposition-linked Polish mayor was infected with the Pegasus spyware. According to rumors, the Polish special services are using surveillance software to spy on government opponents.

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Security Affairs

AUGUST 2, 2022

Austria is investigating a report that an Austrian firm DSIRF developed spyware targeting law firms, banks and consultancies. The group targets entities in Europe and Central America with a surveillance tool dubbed Subzero. Microsoft reported Subzero attacks against Microsoft customers in Austria, the United Kingdom, and Panama.

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Bleeping Computer

JUNE 23, 2022

Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) revealed today that RCS Labs, an Italian spyware vendor, has received help from some Internet service providers (ISPs) to infect Android and iOS users in Italy and Kazakhstan with commercial surveillance tools. [.].

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Security Affairs

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

I transcribed a recent interview, here some questions and answers about nation-state hacking, spyware, and cyber warfare. Enjoy” How has spyware changed the rules of cyber security in recent years? What will cyber security look like now that those tools are all over the internet? Is the Pegasus spyware as a game-changer?

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Security Affairs

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

A threat actor, tracked as APT C-23, is using new powerful Android spyware in attacks aimed at targets in the Middle East. The APT C-23 cyberespionage group (also known as GnatSpy, FrozenCell, or VAMP) continues to target entities in the Middle East with enhanced Android spyware masqueraded as seemingly harmless app updates (i.e.

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eSecurity Planet

JULY 21, 2021

Reports that the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was used by governments to spy on Apple iPhones used by journalists, activists, government officials and business executives is becoming a global controversy for NSO, Apple and a number of governments at the center of the scandal. The impact of the burgeoning scandal continues to ripple.

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Krebs on Security

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Also, Apple has issued an emergency update to fix a flaw that’s reportedly been abused to install spyware on iOS products, and Google ‘s got a new version of Chrome that tackles two zero-day flaws. Finally, Adobe has released critical security updates for Acrobat , Reader and a slew of other software.

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Security Affairs

MARCH 29, 2023

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) discovered several exploit chains targeting Android, iOS, and Chrome to install commercial spyware. The exploit chains were used to install commercial spyware and malicious apps on targets’ devices. The experts pointed out that both campaigns were limited and highly targeted.

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Bleeping Computer

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Facebook has disrupted the operations of seven different spyware-making companies, blocking their Internet infrastructure, sending cease and desist letters, and banning them from its platform. [.].

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Security Affairs

OCTOBER 10, 2019

NSO Group ‘s surveillance spyware made the headlines again, this time the malware was used to spy on 2 rights activists in Morocco according Amnesty International. The organization calls on the Israeli ministry of defence to ban the export of the Pegasus surveillance software developed by NSO Group. Pierluigi Paganini.

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Malwarebytes

JANUARY 29, 2024

This week on the Lock and Code podcast… If the internet helped create the era of mass surveillance, then artificial intelligence will bring about an era of mass spying. Surveillance-based manipulation is the business model [of the internet] and anything that gives a company an advantage, they’re going to do.”

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Security Affairs

AUGUST 1, 2018

An employee at Amnesty International has been targeted with Israeli surveillance malware, the news was revealed by the human rights group. Amnesty International revealed that one of its employees was targeted with a surveillance malware developed by an Israeli firm. ” reads the report published Amnesty International.

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Security Affairs

DECEMBER 30, 2019

Many governments worldwide persecute their internal oppositions charging them with criminal activities and use strict online surveillance to track them. The surveillance software developed by NSO Group was used by government organizations worldwide to spy on human rights groups , activists, journalists, lawyers, and dissidents.

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Joseph Steinberg

JULY 13, 2022

Apple last week announced new security features specifically intended to offer “specialized additional protection to users who may be at risk of highly targeted cyberattacks from private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware.”. Flip phones are not totally immune from government surveillance and action either.).

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Security Boulevard

MARCH 17, 2025

Surveillance Tech in the News This section covers surveillance technology and methods in the news. Data Broker Brags About Having Highly Detailed Personal Information on Nearly All Internet Users Gizmodo An owner of a data broker business brags and showcases his company's ability to deliver "personalized messaging at scale."

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Malwarebytes

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

But the type of surveillance we’re talking about today is different. Little Brother isn’t just surveillance. It is increasingly popular, normalized, and accessible surveillance. It isn’t so much “Big Brother”—a concept introduced in the socio-dystopian novel 1984 by author George Orwell.

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Security Affairs

APRIL 17, 2020

Syrian-linked APT group SEA recently used COVID-19-themed lures as part of a long-running surveillance campaign, security researchers warn. AndoServer samples are purely surveillance software used to spy on the victims, while SLRat is as an Android remote admin tool. ” reads the analysis published by the Lookout.

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Malwarebytes

JANUARY 11, 2023

On Monday, the US Supreme Court denied the NSO Group's petition for a writ of certiorari , a request to the high court to review its case, signaling that Meta's WhatsApp can go ahead with its case against the Israeli-based company behind the Pegasus spyware. The court didn't explain why it refused to hear the NSO's appeal.

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Security Affairs

MARCH 25, 2021

Facebook has taken action against a series of accounts used by a China-linked cyber-espionage group, tracked as Earth Empusa or Evil Eye, to deploy surveillance malware on devices used by Uyghurs activists, journalists, and dissidents living outside China.

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Security Affairs

JUNE 18, 2019

The head of London’s Serpentine Galleries resigned on Tuesday following a Guardian report about her links to the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group. Pegasus is a perfect tool for surveillance, it is able to steal any kind of data from smartphones and use them to spy on the surrounding environment through their camera and microphone.

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Malwarebytes

APRIL 1, 2021

If the commands can only be issued by the app’s creators, then there’s a good chance that FakeSysUpdate is not stalkerware, but information-gathering spyware. Whether for malicious information gathering or for non-consensual surveillance of a romantic partner, these invasions of privacy are flat-out wrong.

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Hackology

NOVEMBER 11, 2023

The emergence of Kamran spyware, targeting users of a regional news website, has raised concerns among cybersecurity experts. Distributed through a possible watering-hole attack on the Hunza News website , the spyware prompts users to grant permissions, allowing access to sensitive data.

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Security Affairs

JANUARY 21, 2022

“The purpose of the implant is to facilitate the deployment of user-mode malware that stages execution of further payloads downloaded from the internet;” reads the analysis published by Kaspersky. A UEFI bootkit implanted in the firmware could not be detected by AVs and any defense solution running on the OS level.

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SecureList

NOVEMBER 28, 2024

Epeius is a commercial spyware tool developed by an Italian company that claims to provide intelligence solutions to law enforcement agencies and governments. The second, an article published in 2024 by the Google Threat Analysis Group, described the business model of various companies that provide commercial surveillance solutions.

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SecureWorld News

DECEMBER 23, 2020

Pegasus spyware is a phone surveillance solution that enables customers to remotely exploit and monitor devices. The company sells its surveillance technology to governments around the world. And watchdog groups say its products are often found to be used in surveillance abuses. Spyware attacks becoming harder to detect.

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Security Affairs

JULY 7, 2019

Germany and the Netherlands agreded to build TEN, the first ever joint military internet. Germany and the Netherlands agreed to build TEN, the first ever joint military internet. ViceLeaker Android spyware targets users in the Middle East. China installs a surveillance app on tourists phones while crossing in the Xinjiang.

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Security Affairs

DECEMBER 15, 2024

CISA adds Cleo Harmony, VLTrader, and LexiCom flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog German agency BSI sinkholed a botnet of 30,000 devices infected with BadBox U.S.

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SecureWorld News

AUGUST 16, 2023

A common example of this is surveillance. We normalize the use of surveilling and tracking young people through "parentware" or spyware (software which allows someone to see what someone else is doing on their device) and apps which enable the tracking of someone's location. Be careful about where you access the internet.

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eSecurity Planet

MARCH 27, 2023

“This activity continues China’s pattern of exploiting internet-facing devices, especially those used for managed security purposes (e.g. Exploited enterprise IT zero-day vulnerabilities: Mandiant Commercial Use of Zero-Days Mandiant also observed three cases in which commercial spyware companies leveraged zero-day flaws.

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