At least one dozen victims in Armenia were targeted with the Pegasus iPhone spyware between October 2020 and December 2022. The hacking appears to be linked to the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
While the NSO Group’s spyware tool has been used in the past by governments who were allegedly trying to hack the phones of European Commission officials, this is the first instance of it being used as a tool of war.
The Guardian reports that researchers claim that a United Nations official, plus journalists and human rights activists, have been hacked. A dozen victims have allegedly been hacked by the Azerbaijan government over its conflict with Armenia.
Researchers at AccessNow and Amnesty International say former Armenia foreign minister Anna Naghdalyan was hacked at least 27 times. Putting Naghdalyan “squarely in the most sensitive conversations and negotiations related to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis.”
Naghdalyan told researchers that she had “all the information about the developments during the war on [her] phone,” at the time.
“Even if you have the most secure system on your phone, you cannot be secure,” she said.
Other victims included journalists Karlen Aslanyan and Astghik Bedevyan.
Researchers say the hacking was performed by a customer of the NSO Group.
While a spokesperson for the NSO Group says it has not seen the new report, the spokesperson said that the company investigates all credible reports of its spyware being abused in ways like this.
(Via AppleInsider)
