Belarusian Secret Service spied on cell phones
3 days ago
- #Belarus
- #Journalism
- #Surveillance
- A person is interrogated by the Belarusian KGB and forced to surrender their smartphone.
- The next day, the phone's antivirus detects a suspicious app, which is deleted, but a second spy app remains undetected.
- The spy app grants the KGB access to the microphone, camera, encrypted messages, SMS, emails, call recordings, and location tracking, with remote wipe capabilities.
- This real-life case involves a Belarusian journalist, whose identity is protected for safety reasons.
- The journalist sought help from the Eastern European NGO Resident, which, with Reporter Without Borders, discovered the sophisticated spyware.
- The malware, previously unknown, has likely been used against opposition figures since 2021.
- The case highlights the severe privacy intrusions faced by journalists and opposition members in Belarus, with over 30 journalists currently detained.
- The discovery follows Belarus's release of 123 political prisoners, suggesting ongoing surveillance risks.
- A recent cyberattack on exiled Belarusian activists involved phishing attempts to hijack Signal messenger accounts.
- State surveillance is shifting from expensive tools like Pegasus to cheaper methods involving physical device access during interrogations.
- Similar tactics have been used by Serbian, Russian, and Chinese authorities to target opposition and business travelers.
- The KGB exploited physical access to the phone to install the spyware, bypassing Android security measures like Google Play Protect.
- The spyware disabled security features to avoid detection, masquerading as legitimate system services.
- The reasons for two apps and the undetected one remain unclear, but both were previously unknown to security experts.