Security News > 2023 > September > Russian Journalist's iPhone Compromised by NSO Group's Zero-Click Spyware

The iPhone belonging to Galina Timchenko, a prominent Russian journalist and critic of the government, was compromised with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, a new collaborative investigation from Access Now and the Citizen Lab has revealed.

The Washington Post reported that the Russian government is not a client of NSO Group, citing an unnamed person familiar with the company's operations.

The development marks the first documented case where the notorious spyware has been planted on the phone of a Russian target.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said "Journalists and their sources are not free and safe if they are spied on, and this attack on Timchenko underscores that governments must implement an immediate moratorium on the development, sale, and use of spyware technologies."

News of the spyware infection also arrives days after Apple rushed to patch two zero-day exploits in iOS that have been weaponized in the wild to distribute Pegasus.

Users who are at heightened risk of spyware threats are recommended to enable Lockdown Mode on iPhones to mitigate such threats.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/russian-journalists-iphone-compromised.html