Natalia Krapiva 🕊️👩🏻‍💻

Spyware maker is hijacking diplomatic efforts to limit commercial hacking, civil society warns Spyware maker NSO Group trumpeted the company’s participation in the Pall Mall Process, which drew criticism from civil society leaders and government officials who called out human rights abuses.

“NSO has been frustrating investigations, discrediting victims and researchers and putting enormous resources into actively trying to avoid accountability and providing remedy to victims in U.S. and other courts." @natynettle.bsky.social

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therecord.media/spyware-make...

Spyware maker is hijacking diplomatic efforts to limit commercial hacking, civil society warns Spyware maker NSO Group trumpeted the company’s participation in the Pall Mall Process, which drew criticism from civil society leaders and government officials who called out human rights abuses.

NEW: NSO tried to hijack the Pall Mall Process to whitewash their reputation in the midst of ongoing Pegasus abuses.

France & UK govs leading the process say: "Not so fast!"

Submitting comments ≠ participation/compliance!

By @suzannesmalley.bsky.social

therecord.media/spyware-make...

New security feature released by WhatsApp to further protect high risk users from spyware 🙌

For some, this can be truly life saving!

More companies should be adding such features to their platforms and devices.

By @cyberscoop.bsky.social @timstarks.bsky.social

cyberscoop.com/whatsapp-str...

3/ Any hasty decisions to remove sanctions from individuals involved in conducting cyber attacks against US persons and interests risk signaling to bad actors that this behavior may come with little consequences as long as they can pay enough💰 for fancy lobbyists.

2/ The sanctions were originally imposed in 2024 for their role in targeting U.S. gov officials, incl. Rep Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), as well as journalists & policy experts, with Predator spyware.

Today, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it took three people closely affiliated with Intellexa, the company behind Predator spyware, off of a sanctions list.

The public deserves to know what evidence exists to prove that these individuals have ceased their involvement with Intellexa. 1/

Fantastic News! 📢

U.S. court rejects all of NSO's objections to permanent injunction!

The ruling bans NSO from accessing WhatsApp platform & orders NSO to delete all technologies that use, access, or depend on WhatsApp.

This basically outlaws Pegasus in its current form🚫

It was a pleasure to speak at #InternetCA ‘25 together with regional partners & Kazakhstan🇰🇿& Kyrgyzstan🇰🇬 officials.

I highlighted the disproportionality of internet shutdowns 🛜, the dangers of “white lists” ☑️‼️& the importance of protecting e2e encryption🔒

🙏 to MediaNET for the invitation

This should be a big scandal!

U.S. hacking company employee is accused of selling trade secrets to Russia 🇷🇺 !

A stark reminder why commercial spyware industry is such a threat to U.S. & other Western democracies’ national security.

We need strict controls & enforcement!

PhantomCaptcha | Multi-Stage WebSocket RAT Targets Ukraine in Single-Day Spearphishing Operation SentinelLABS uncovers a coordinated spearphishing campaign targeting organizations critical to Ukraine's war relief efforts.

New investigation by SentinelOne & partners from DSL Ukraine into phishing attack targeting humanitarian actors.

The attack chain overlaps with Russian FSB hacking group COLDRIVER/Star Blizzard which we at @accessnow.org & @citizenlab.ca reported on last year
www.sentinelone.com/labs/phantom...

Russia bombs kindergarten in Kharkiv, Ukraine says “These strikes are Russia’s spit in the face of anyone who insists on a peaceful solution,” rages Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Russian forces struck a kindergarten in Kharkiv with killer drones on Wednesday morning, according to top Ukrainian officials.

www.politico.eu/article/russ...

#Russia #Ukraine

Today’s WhatsApp v NSO injunction is a BIG DEAL & may essentially kill Pegasus spyware *as we know it.*

To comply, NSO would have to ensure that their spyware cannot access WhatsApp messages or break WhatsApp’s encryption.

This means that NSO can no longer offer “unlimited” access to victims’ 📱s

💡Some key recommendations from @accessnow.org's @natynettle.bsky.social, @mdedora.bsky.social, & Rand Hammoud on 🇺🇸ICE's contract with #spyware vendor Paragon Solutions.

👇👇👇

3/ The donation announcement is the latest in the string of innovative and highly effective (I would even say life saving!) features introduced by Apple to protect its most vulnerable users from spyware attacks like Pegasus.

Other companies should follow suit!

2/ We in civil society have identified the problem of many high risk users targeted w/spyware not being able to afford devices with the latest & strongest security features, especially when many orgs are facing funding cuts.

Apple’s announcement responds to this need!
cyberscoop.com/apple-memory...

Great News! 👏

Apple announced they will be donating 1000 iPhone 17s with the much more secure Memory Integrity Enforcement to high-risk users!

Another meaningful step that Apple is taking to protect journalists, activists & dissidents from commercial spyware! 1/
security.apple.com/blog/apple-s...

A highly concerning development.

NSO and its customers have been targeting U.S. companies like WhatsApp and government officials in violation of U.S. laws and national security.

It should not be rewarded with American investments.

In English: www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/ar...

Apple Announces $2 Million Bug Bounty Reward for the Most Dangerous Exploits With the mercenary spyware industry booming, Apple VP Ivan Krstić tells WIRED that the company is also offering bonuses that could bring the max total reward for iPhone exploits to $5 million.

With the mercenary spyware industry booming, Apple VP Ivan Krstić tells WIRED that the company is also offering bonuses that could bring the max total reward for iPhone exploits to $5 million. www.wired.com/story/apple-...

[9/10] “It is very concerning that EU bodies' and member states' 💶money may be going into funding the spyware industry,” says @accessnow.org's @natynettle.bsky.social. “This in turn breeds corruption and abuse. There should be strict scrutiny applied to these types of investments.”

⚖️ 🔍 My new op-ed for @justsecurity.org + @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social about the opportunities & dangers of discovery in U.S. spyware litigation

Russia has been cutting the internet to stop drones — and it's driving a cash comeback Internet outages have surged in recent months, from 69 incidents in May to 662 in June and 2,099 in July.

Spoke to @businessinsider.com about Russia's wide-scale internet shutdowns and their devastating effect on the regular people and the country's digital economy.

www.businessinsider.com/russia-econo...

ECtHR Press Release: Fines and penalties against Google breached its free-expression rights

⚖️ An important ECtHR ruling that some may have missed:

The Court ruled that Russia breached Free Expression rights by imposing excessive fines on Google for failure to remove YouTube channels & videos critical of the gov + suspending sanctioned pro-gov Tsargrad TV accounts

Abgeordnete Donata Vogtschmidt (Die Linke) Gab es bisher Ausfuhrgenehmigungsprozesse im Zusammenhang mit dem Spyware-Unternehmen Paragon inklusive dessen deutscher Firma Paragon Solutions (Germany) GmbH, und wenn ja, wie viele (bitte nach beantragten und genehmigten Ausfuhren unterscheiden), und welche weiteren Kontakte gab es bisher mit Paragon beziehungsweise Paragon Solutions (Germany) GmbH? Antwort des Staatssekretärs Bernhard Kluttig vom 10. Juni 2025 Entsprechende Ausfuhrgenehmigungen wurden nicht erteilt. Die Bundesregierung sieht entsprechend der Feststellungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts in seinem Urteil vom 21. Oktober 2014 (BVerfGE 137, 185) von weiteren Auskünften ab.

Das israelische Staatstrojaner-Unternehmen Paragon hat auch eine GmbH in Deutschland. Die Bundesregierung verweigert eine Antwort, ob deutsche Behörden mit diesen Firmen in Kontakt sind. Gefragt hatte ‪@donatavogtschmidt.bsky.social‬. dserver.bundestag.de/btd/21/004/2...

Incredible news!

In Belarus, the husband of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya,Syarhey, has been released,along with several other prisoners

They had been sentenced following the attempted overthrow of Lukashenko in 2020

Their release coincided with the visit of Kellogg to Belarus

Same Sea, New Phish: Russian Government-Linked Social Engineering Targets App-Specific Passwords - The Citizen Lab Keir Giles, a prominent expert on Russia, was targeted with a new form of social-engineering attack that leverages App-Specific Passwords. Google links the operation to UNC6293, a Russian state-backed...

Russian hackers continue targeting civil society with phishing.

Excellent new investigation by @citizenlab.ca and Google uncovers sophisticated phishing attack against prominent Russia expert Keir Giles. The hackers were impersonating US State Department.

citizenlab.ca/2025/06/russ...

Second Italian journalist targeted with Paragon spyware, watchdog group says A second Italian journalist was recently targeted by software made by U.S.-owned surveillance company Paragon, internet watchdog group Citizen Lab said, raising new questions about a surveillance scandal that has already led Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government and Paragon to part ways.

New: *Another* Italian journalist was targeted using Paragon’s spyware, per @citizenlab.ca

www.reuters.com/business/med...

Graphite Caught: First Forensic Confirmation of Paragon’s iOS Mercenary Spyware Finds Journalists Targeted - The Citizen Lab We conducted a forensic analysis of devices belonging to two journalists who were notified by Apple that they were targeted with advanced spyware.

New bombshell report from Citizen Lab confirming with high confidence that Italian Fanpage.it journalist Ciro Pellegrino + anonymous European journalist were targeted with Paragon’s Graphite mercenary spyware.

This scandal is not going away…

citizenlab.ca/2025/06/firs...

US agencies assessed Chinese telecom hackers likely hit data center and residential internet providers Data center giant Digital Realty and mass media titan Comcast were documented as likely victims of the Salt Typhoon cyberespionage group, people familiar say, marking a potentially major expansion of ...

Various agencies are in possession of lists of confirmed or potential victims, but it’s not clear if the tallies are consistent. CISA, for instance, has a list of both telecom and IT companies, but an FBI tabulation shows different entities.
www.nextgov.com/cybersecurit...