Exiled Russian journalist reportedly hacked using NSO Group spyware

Source: The Guardian

Exiled Russian journalist reportedly hacked using NSO Group spyware

Galina Timchenko, head of media outlet declared ‘undesirable’ by Moscow, targeted in February while living in Berlin

Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Andrew Roth
Wed 13 Sep 2023 16.04 BST
First published on Wed 13 Sep 2023 15.41 BST

An award-winning Russian journalist living in exile in Europe was hacked using Israeli spyware made by NSO Group, according to a joint investigation by the Citizen Lab and Access Now.

Galina Timchenko was hacked on or around 10 February, at a time when she was based in Berlin, Germany, marking the first time that an independent Russian journalist – whose media outlet has been targeted by Moscow and ldeclared an “undesirable organisation” – is known to have been hacked with spyware.

The news has raised questions about who might have been behind the attack. Researchers said they were not immediately able to identify who might have targeted Timchenko’s phone, but said it was hacked using Pegasus, one of the world’s most sophisticated military-grade spyware tools.

Russia would be considered an obvious candidate to have targeted Timchenko, who is the co-founder and chief executive of Meduza, an independent Russian news website that has a record of publishing critical articles about the war in Ukraine and investigations into the Russian elite, including those close to Vladimir Putin.

NSO, which is closely regulated by the Israeli government, sells only to government agencies. ...

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/13/exiled-russian-journalist-galina-timchenko-reportedly-hacked-using-nso-group-spyware

Alternative non-walled link: https://archive.li/GKpRk