Al Jazeera Studios in Doha, Qatar – Wittylama / Wikimedia Commons / CC
Citizen Lab researchers say they discovered dozens of Al Jazeera journalists’ phones were quietly compromised by spyware, in an unprecedented cyber attack likely to have been ordered by Saudi Arabia and the Arab Emirates United, according to the report.
The virus exploited a now corrected vulnerability in Apple’s iMessage. In a technical report released on Sunday, researchers say the affected iPhones were infected with the Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli group NSO. Citizen Lab researchers add that the malicious code discovered made “almost all” iPhone devices vulnerable if users were using an operating system older than Apple’s iOS 14 system, which appears to have fixed the vulnerability.
Asked by The Guardian, a spokesperson for the NSO Group said: “As we have stated on several occasions, we do not have access to any information regarding the identity of the people on whom our system is used to carry out surveillance. However, when we receive credible evidence of misuse, combined with the basic identifiers of suspected targets and timeframes, we take all necessary steps in accordance with our Product Misuse Investigation Procedure to investigate allegations. “, he specifies.
As a reminder, in the May 2019 report, Morocco had been on Citizen Lab’s list of countries using NSO group Pegasus spyware. This software used a vulnerability in WhatsApp messaging to infiltrate the targeted smartphones. In a previous report from September 2018, Morocco was already mentioned. Two years later, in June 2020, Amnesty International claimed that activist and journalist Omar Radi had been Pegasus’ victim for a year. These revelations have also been published by several investigative media. dont Le Desk in Morocco.
The Moroccan authorities had categorically denied being in contact with the Israeli firm NSO Group, nor making use of its products. Following the publication of this information, Omar Radi was prosecuted for ” spying “. As part of this investigation, but also in that related to a complaint for “rape”, the journalist has been placed in preventive detention since the end of July.
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