Israeli Firm Assisted Governments Target Journalists & Activists with Zero Days and Spyware

Microsoft as part of its Patch on Tuesday fixed two of the zero-day Windows flaws weaponized by Candiru, an Israeli firm in a series of “precision attacks” to hack more than 100 journalists, academics, activists, and political dissidents globally. 

According to a report published by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, the spyware vendor has also been formally identified as the commercial surveillance firm that Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) revealed was exploiting multiple zero-day vulnerabilities in Chrome browser to attack victims in Armenia. 

“Candiru’s apparent widespread presence, and the use of its surveillance technology against global civil society, is a potent reminder that the mercenary spyware industry contains many players and is prone to widespread abuse,” Citizen Lab researchers stated.

“This case demonstrates, yet again, that in the absence of any international safeguards or strong government export controls, spyware vendors will sell to government clients who will routinely abuse their services.” 

Founded in 2014, the private-sector offensive actor (PSOA) — codenamed “Sourgum” by Microsoft — is stated to be the creator of DevilsTongue, an espionage toolkit able to infect and track a wide range of devices across multiple platforms, including iPhones, Androids, Macs, PCs, and cloud accounts. 

After gaining a hard drive from “a politically active victim in Western Europe,” Citizen Lab stated it was able to restore a copy of Candiru’s Window

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