Report finds NSO Group’s spyware used on Bahraini activists

By ALAN SUDERMAN
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nine activists from Bahrain had their iPhones hacked by advanced spyware made by the Israeli company NSO Group, the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, a cybersecurity watchdog reported on Tuesday. Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto says NSO Group’s Pegasus malware successfully hacked the phones between June 2020 and February 2021. Those reportedly hacked included members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and two political dissidents living in exile. Citizen Lab says it has “high confidence” that at least four of the activists were hacked by the Bahraini government, which has a history of using commercially available spyware.