Security News
Spyware maker NSO Group has a new ringleader, as the notorious biz seeks to revamp its image amid new reports that the company's Pegasus malware is targeting yet more human rights advocates and journalists. The new owner is a Luxembourg-based holding firm called Dufresne Holdings controlled by NSO co-founder Omri Lavie, according to the report.
Israeli spyware maker NSO Group deployed at least three novel "Zero-click" exploits against iPhones in 2022 to infiltrate defenses erected by Apple and deploy Pegasus, according to the latest findings from Citizen Lab. "NSO Group customers widely deployed at least three iOS 15 and iOS 16 zero-click exploit chains against civil society targets around the world," the interdisciplinary laboratory based at the University of Toronto said.
Pegasus spyware-maker NSO Group announced on Sunday it will reorganize, replacing its CEO and letting go of around 100 workers. A statement from NSO Group reportedly said the reorg, which reduces the size of the company by around 15 percent, "Will examine all aspects of its business, including streamlining its operations to ensure NSO remains one of the world's leading hi-tech cyber intelligence companies, focusing on NATO-member countries."
We forensically confirmed that at least 30 individuals were infected with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. A sample of the victims was independently analyzed by Amnesty International's Security Lab which confirms the methodology used to determine Pegasus infections.
US security technology provider L3Harris has courted controversial Israeli spyware firm NSO with an aim to buy it, according to reports. The New York Times claims L3Harris in recent months sent a team to Israel to try to smooth passage of the deal, which was made challenging by US president Joe Biden's decision to blacklist NSO following the use of its Pegasus software to crack phones of politicians and campaigners.
The beleaguered Israeli surveillanceware vendor NSO Group this week admitted to the European Union lawmakers that its Pegasus tool was used by at least five countries in the region. The disclosure comes as a special inquiry committee was launched in April 2022 to investigate alleged breaches of E.U. law following revelations that the company's Pegasus spyware is being used to snoop on phones belonging to politicians, diplomats, and civil society members.
NSO Group told European lawmakers this week that "Under 50" customers use its notorious Pegasus spyware, though these customers include "More than five" European Union member states. Generally speaking, a target selected by an NSO customer has their phone or other device infected with hidden spyware via the exploitation of one or more security vulnerabilities.
Ronan Farrow has a long article in The New Yorker on NSO Group, which includes the news that someone — probably Spain — used the software to spy on domestic Catalonian sepratists.
An unknown zero-click exploit in Apple's iMessage was used by Israeli-based NSO Group to plant either Pegasus or Candiru malware on iPhones owned by politicians, journalists and activists. Citizen Lab, in collaboration with Catalan-based researchers, released the finding in a report on Monday that claims 65 people were targeted or infected with malware via an iPhone vulnerability called HOMAGE. It asserts the controversial Israeli firm the NSO Group and a second firm Candiru were behind the campaigns that took place between 2017 and 2020.
The Canadian research outfit also said it had identified at least 65 individuals linked with Catalan civil society groups in Spain who were targeted by, or infected with, surveillance software. On Monday, Citizen Lab, a part of at the University of Toronto's Munk School, said it had found likely NSO Group Pegasus spyware infections on devices associated with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office, 10 Downing Street, and on devices linked to the FCO, now called the FCDO, or the Foreign Commonwealth and Development office.