Government hackers use mobile spyware to target US diplomats’ phones, lawmaker says

The Biden administration has begun to address the use of commercial spyware tools following a series of revelations by activists and media organisations. The most sophisticated spyware, such as Pegasus, can access a victim’s messages, camera and microphone without the victim clicking on a single link. — AFP

Government hackers are likely using commercial spyware to breach phones belonging to US officials stationed around the world, the chairman of the House intelligence committee said on July 27.

Reports last year that attackers infiltrated the phones of US diplomats in Uganda using a kind of spyware known as Pegasus, developed by the Israeli vendor NSO Group, provide only a hint of the scale of the issue, said Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.