At least nine U.S. State Department employees' Apple iPhones were reportedly hacked by unknown individuals using malware created by Israel's NSO Group.
The breaches occurred over the previous few months and targeted U.S. officials living in Uganda or working on Uganda-related issues, according to a Reuters report.
NSO Group and Candiru, another spyware firm in Israel, were added to the Commerce Departments Entity List of those involved in malicious cyber activity “based on a determination that they developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used this tool to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers,” a Nov. 3 release by the Commerce Department said.
At least nine US State Department employees' Apple iPhones were reportedly hacked by unknown individuals using malware created by Israel's NSO Group
| Pixabay
These breaches are the most extensive known compromises of U.S. officials through NSO technology, Reuters reported. Previously, a list of numbers with prospective targets including American officials also appeared in reports concerning NSO, but it is unclear if hacks on these numbers were attempted or completed.
NSO officials issued a statement claiming they have no proof that their services were used for hacking purposes and the company has revoked access for impacted users and plans to conduct an investigation.
"If our investigation shall show these actions indeed happened with NSO's tools, such customer will be terminated permanently and legal actions will take place," an NSO spokesperson said in the Reuters report, adding that the company will also "cooperate with any relevant government authority and present the full information we will have."
NSO also stated that it provides its products solely to government law enforcement and intelligence agencies to aid in monitoring security concerns and is not involved in surveillance operations, Reuters said. The company's software can obtain encrypted messages, images, and other sensitive data from infected phones, as well as turn them into surveillance devices.
A senior Biden administration official who requested anonymity claimed that the risk to American personnel stationed abroad was one of the justifications for the government imposing restrictions on companies such as NSO, according to Reuters. The government is pursuing global discussions about espionage limitations.
