A new Israeli-made spyware has been used in several countries to spy on journalists and opposition politicians. About this yesterday, April 11, informed Canadian research laboratory The Citizen Lab, specializing in information security and human rights.
The researchers found at least five people in North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East who were targeted by the spyware. Among them were journalists, opposition politicians and one worker of an NGO.
The Citizen Lab identified servers in ten countries that received data from victims’ devices, including Israel, Singapore, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Bulgaria.
The Citizen Lab claims that once placed on a phone or computer, the QuaDream program can record audio from a phone call, as well as external sounds through the device’s microphone, take pictures from its camera, and search for files on the device without the user’s knowledge. The program can also generate its own two-factor authentication codes to provide continuous access to the device owner’s cloud accounts. It also includes a self-destruct feature.
The Citizen Lab researchers also learned that QuaDream is promoting its spyware and services to government clients in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Ghana, Indonesia and Morocco.
According to the lab, the spyware was created by a little-known firm, QuaDream Ltd, founded by a retired Israeli military. He previously worked for NSO Group. It is an Israeli cyber-intelligence company best known for its Pegasus spy software, which makes it easy to spy on other people’s mobile phones. The scandal around Pegasus arose when it became known that in some countries it was used to wiretap high-ranking politicians.