Investigation reveals journalists, activists among targets of spyware created by Israeli company

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A global media investigation has revealed that journalists, activists and political dissidents have been the target of spyware created by Israel-based NSO Group

This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Dozens of journalists at Al Jazeera, the Qatari state-owned media company, have been targeted by advanced spyware in an attack attributed to the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a cybersecurity watchdog reported on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020.

The source of the leak — and how it was authenticated -- was not disclosed. While a phone number’s presence in the data does not mean an attempt was made to hack a device, the consortium said it believed the data represented potential targets of NSO’s government clients. The Post said it identified 37 hacked smartphones on the list.

The consortium’s findings build on extensive work by cybersecurity researchers, primarily from the University of Toronto-based watchdog Citizen Lab. NSO targets identified by researchers beginning in 2016 include dozens of Al-Jazeera journalists and executives, New York Times Beirut bureau chief Ben Hubbard, Moroccan journalist and activist Omar Radi and prominent Mexican anti-corruption reporter Carmen Aristegui. Her phone number was on the list, the Post reported.

In 2019, WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook sued NSO Group in U.S. federal court in San Francisco, accusing it of exploiting a flaw in the popular encrypted messaging service to target — with missed calls alone -- some 1,400 users. NSO Group denies the accusations.

 

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