Spyware find highlights depth of hacker-for-hire industry

The hacker-for-hire industry is facing increased scrutiny as well as regulatory and legal pressure. That includes a call by a group of US lawmakers this week to sanction NSO Group, Nexa and their top executives. — AFP

BOSTON: Security researchers said on Dec 16 they found two kinds of commercial spyware on the phone of a leading exiled Egyptian dissident, providing new evidence of the depth and diversity of the abusive hacker-for-hire industry.

One piece of malware recently found on an iPhone belonging to Ayman Nour, a dissident and 2005 Egyptian presidential candidate who subsequently spent three years in jail, originated with the increasingly embattled NSO Group of Israel. That company was recently blacklisted by Washington. The other was from a company called Cytrox, which also has Israeli ties. This was the first documentation of a hack by Cytrox, a little-known NSO Group rival.