Security News > 2022 > January > Finnish diplomats’ phones infected with NSO Group Pegasus spyware

Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs says devices of Finnish diplomats have been hacked and infected with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware in a cyber-espionage campaign.

"Finnish diplomats have been targets of cyber espionage by means of the Pegasus spyware, developed by NSO Group Technologies, which has received wide publicity," the Ministry said in a statement published today.

While the data transmitted or stored on diplomats' phones is either public or classified at the lowest level of classified information, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs says the attackers could still access some info subject to diplomatic confidentiality.

In early December, following an Apple warning sent to their devices, US Department of State employees also found that their iPhones had been hacked with an iOS exploit dubbed ForcedEntry to install Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group.

The news of Department of State employees' phones being hacked came on the heels of the US sanctioning NSO Group and three other entities from Israel, Russia, and Singapore last month for developing spyware and selling hacking tools used by state-backed threat actors.

As Apple revealed in court documents, NSO's ForcedEntry exploit was used by state hackers to breach Apple devices and install Pegasus spyware, as Citizen Lab revealed in August.

News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/finnish-diplomats-phones-infected-with-nso-group-pegasus-spyware/