Italian spyware maker SIO, known to sell its products to government customers, is behind a series of malicious Android apps that masquerade as WhatsApp and other popular apps but steal private data from a target’s device, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
Late last year, a security researcher shared three Android apps with TechCrunch, claiming they were likely government spyware used in Italy against unknown victims. TechCrunch asked Google and mobile security firm Lookout to analyze the apps, and both confirmed that the apps were spyware.
Read more…
Source: TechCrunch News
Related:
- NSO Group President Defends Controversial Tactics
November 27, 2019
In a rare public appearance by Shiri Dolev, the president of the secretive NSO Group Technologies, the company leader vented over what she called “false myths” about the firm. Dolev also took indirect aim at secure messaging platforms, offered by the likes of Facebook, explaining surveillance companies may soon have to step in where law ...
- New WhatsApp Bug Could Have Let Hackers Secretly Install Spyware On Your Devices
November 16, 2019
The vulnerability affects both consumers as well as enterprise apps of WhatsApp for all major platforms, including Google Android, Apple iOS, and Microsoft Windows. According to an advisory published by Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, the list of affected app versions are as follows: Android versions before 2.19.274 iOS versions before 2.19.100 Enterprise Client versions before 2.25.3 Windows Phone versions before and ...
- WhatsApp Spyware Attack: Uncovering NSO Group Activity
October 30, 2019
On the heels of Facebook filing a lawsuit against Israeli company NSO Group — alleging that it was behind the massive WhatsApp hack earlier this year — privacy experts say that the move is “popping the unaccountable bubble” that commercial spyware companies have carved out for themselves. After disclosing the lawsuit,WhatsApp said that cyber security experts at the Citizen Lab, ...
- Google Warns of Android Zero-Day Bug Under Active Attack
October 4, 2019
Google is warning of an Android zero-day flaw actively being exploited in the wild, which gives an attacker full control over 18 phone models including its flagship Pixel handset and devices made by Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi. Google’s Project Zero warned late Thursday that it suspected the vulnerability was being exploited by the controversial Israeli-based NSO ...
- Masad Spyware Uses Telegram Bots for Command-and-Control
September 27, 2019
A freshly discovered commercial spyware dubbed the “Masad Clipper and Stealer” is using Telegram bots as its command-and-control (C2) hub. Masad harvests information from Windows and Android users and also comes with a full cadre of other malicious capabilities, including the ability to steal cryptocurrency from victims’ wallets. According to an analysis from Juniper Threat Labs on ...
- Poland pressured to say if it bought Israeli phone spyware
September 4, 2019
The Polish government is coming under pressure to clarify whether it has purchased sophisticated and potentially illegal phone surveillance technology that has been used to stifle dissent in other countries. Opposition lawmakers asked Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki whether the special services bought Pegasus, the spyware produced by NSO Group, an Israeli company. Morawiecki appeared to sidestep the ...

