Fantastic News! 📢 U.S. court rejects all of NSO's objections to permanent injunction! The ruling bans NSO from accessing WhatsApp platform & orders NSO to delete all technologies that use, access, or depend on WhatsApp. This basically outlaws Pegasus in its current form🚫

Former Trump official appointed exec chairman of spyware company NSO Group. David Friedman previously served as Trump's ambassador to Israel + before that was a bankruptcy lawyer for the president. NSO was recently acquired by investors led by a Hollywood producer therecord.media/former-trump...

We asked David Friedman, the former US ambassador to Israel, who has been named exec chairman of the NSO Group holding company, whether he would try to get sanctions on NSO lifted. He said: “I hope that will be accomplished, but we haven’t made that request yet”. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

UPDATE: NSO just hired former Trump ambassador to Israel. They're trying to push Pegasus spyware to 🇺🇸America. Your rights and freedoms are in danger. NSO Group is no friend to the US & has spent years undermining our security & values 1/

⚠️ David Friedman, Trump's former ambassador to Israel and one of the key architects of the Abraham Accords, has been appointed head of #spyware vendor NSO Group. www.themarker.com/technation/2...

YIKES: NSO floats Pegasus spyware used in hypothetical "time of domestic crisis" in 🇺🇸America. I believe they won't stop lobbying until they get Pegasus into USA. To hack Americans. 1/

Security researchers on Friday revealed the discovery of “commercial grade” spyware used in a 9-month-long hacking campaign aimed at Samsung Galaxy phones likely concentrated in the Middle East. therecord.media/landfall-spy...

The revelation that Francesco Nicodemo was targeted with Paragon #spyware widens the scope — once again — of the ongoing spyware scandal in 🇮🇹Italy, writes @lorenzofb.bsky.social. techcrunch.com/2025/11/06/i...

This is a very good point. And the answer lies in the licenses that spyware makers give their customers. In this case, "licenses" means the number of concurrent targets customers could use. For example, these were the no. of targets Hacking Team gave its customers (note Morocco):

Another person spied on in Italy’s Paragon scandal: Francesco Nicodemo, former head of communications for the 🇮🇹Democratic Party under Matteo Renzi. www.fanpage.it/politica/un-...

⚠️ @hennavirkkunen.bsky.social promises to submit a list of #spyware companies that received 🇪🇺EU funding following our @ftm.eu investigation. 💡All applications, she said, are reviewed by a “multidisciplinary team of ethical experts.” 🎥 WATCH: youtu.be/SjSndVxMNXU?... Q: @danielfreund.bsky.social

European news outlets find that data brokers are peddling locations of hundreds in European Commission and Parliament, including senior officials. therecord.media/data-brokers...

A court document filed in the case, as well as exclusive reporting by @lorenzofb.bsky.social and interviews with Williams’ former colleagues, explain how Williams was able to steal the highly valuable and sensitive exploits from Trenchant. 👀 techcrunch.com/2025/11/03/h...

“Greek investigative outlet Tvxs.gr has uncovered evidence that Intellexa, the company behind the Predator spyware system, held operational training sessions inside the offices of Krikel, a firm involved in sensitive 🇬🇷Greek Police procurements.” www.dnews.gr/eidhseis/new...

⚠️ In a new document, part of the so-called discharge process, the European Commission admits EU funds flowed to #spyware firms after our @ftm.eu probe, and a letter by 39 MEPs. 🚫 However it fails to list all 🇪🇺 programmes from which surveillance companies have benefited. www.ftm.eu/newsletters/...

How Google won friends and influenced people - while slowly gobbling up a quarter of all ad revenue on the internet. Here's my look at two decades of Google’s ruthless tactics to secure its dominance. www.ftm.eu/articles/goo...

The murder of Greek journalist Giorgos #Karaivaz has never been resolved. Now one of the suspects who was tried and acquitted for the murder, has himself been murdered. Will the cover up continue or will the authorities finally investigate? www.ekathimerini.com/news/1285558...

⚠️Gerhard Schmidt, a partner at 🇺🇸law firm Weil Gotshal's 🇩🇪offices, personally invested €5m in Novalpina, the private equity fund that bought NSO Group, according to 2 people with knowledge of the matter & a New York court filing. ✍️ @kayewiggins.ft.com & Mehul Srivastava. www.ft.com/content/a5d2...

GrapheneOS is great and I recommend it all the time for Android users who are concerned about spying by governments and law enforcement.

A very good Risky.biz podcast this week on Peter Williams, the former Trenchant employee accused of stealing trade secrets (👀). @patrick.risky.biz says Williams is ex-ASD (Australian NSA), which declined to comment to us when we reached out as it was a "matter for law enforcement." risky.biz/RB812/

"As part of the plea agreement, Williams faces between 87 and 108 months in prison and fines of up to $300,000. He must also pay restitution of $1.3 million." ✍️ @kimzetter.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/peter-...

NEW: For the second time in less than two weeks, a major cloud outage has impacted the internet, revealing once again the dangers of relying on a few companies to provide the internet's infrastructure. @lhn.bsky.social reports www.wired.com/story/the-mi...

Former L3Harris general manager Peter Williams - an 🇦🇺Australian citizen & former Australian Signals Directorate employee - has pleaded guilty to selling surveillance technology to a Russian broker that buys “cyber tools,” the 🇺🇸 DOJ confirmed. ✍️ @lorenzofb.bsky.social techcrunch.com/2025/10/29/f...

🇮🇹Memento Labs chief exec Paolo Lezzi confirmed to @lorenzofb.bsky.social that the #spyware caught by Kaspersky does indeed belong to Memento. He blamed one of the company’s govt customers for exposing Dante, saying the customer used an outdated version of the spyware. techcrunch.com/2025/10/28/c...

Kaspersky researchers said 🇮🇹Memento Labs - the successor company of Hacking Team - appears to be behind both the Operation ForumTroll malware and #spyware, known as Dante. ✍️ @timstarks.bsky.social cyberscoop.com/hacking-team...

NEW: The number of phones being searched at the US border just hit another high - 16,000 devices were searched in the last three months—a record high for a quarter - 55,000 in the fiscal year 2025 (Oct-Sept)—a yearly record high Story with @dell.bsky.social here: www.wired.com/story/cbp-se...

Was früher Wanzen & Spitzel waren, ist heute #Spyware. Wie schützt man #Freiheit im digitalen Zeitalter? 🗓️ 12.11., 18:30 Uhr #BerlinFreedomWeek Infos & Anmeldung 👇 www.berlin-freedom-week.com/event/von-st...

There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles. Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8

Sequoia Capital is accelerating investments in 🇮🇱Israel despite the war. “We’ve always been strong in #cyber, and the best companies in the world in this field have come from Israel,” said Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire. www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/ar...

📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms). It’s also concerning. 1/

"The platform, called Beyond, pulled together hundreds of thousands of records from state databases to create detailed profiles on 🇮🇹 politicians, business leaders and other prominent figures." ✍️ @antoanetaroussi.bsky.social & Hannah Roberts www.politico.eu/article/ital...

What can you do to better protect yourself in the Age of TechnoFascism? If you're asking this question, I highly recommend this talk and post by @micahflee.com 👇 micahflee.com/practical-de...

Good to see some accountability in 🇵🇱 Former Polish official indicted; Illegally transferred money from a fund meant for victims of online abuse to purchase mercenary spyware And then target (as we @citizenlab.ca uncovered) political oppositions' phones therecord.media/former-polis...

PBS did a great section on the Great Firewall Export, that we published together with @papertrailmedia.de @interseclab.bsky.social @justiceformyanmar.org @theglobeandmail.com @torproject.bsky.social and us @amnesty.org. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

The US government has accused 39‑year‑old 🇦🇺Australian Peter Williams - formerly the general manager of Trenchant, an L3Harris division - of stealing trade secrets & selling them to a buyer in Russia, according to court documents seen by @lorenzofb.bsky.social. techcrunch.com/2025/10/23/u...

NEW: The U.S. govt accused Peter Williams, ex general manager of hacking tool maker L3Harris Trenchant, of stealing trade secrets and selling them to buyer in Russia. As we reported earlier, Trenchant investigated a leak of internal tools this year. It's unclear if that investigation is related.

“Until the resignation of Dimitriadis, I didn’t know exactly what was going on. In the first days, I had no clear picture. But when that resignation happened, I realised there was 🇬🇷domestic involvement,” Androulakis told the court. www.ekathimerini.com/politics/128...

Apple's iOS 26 update introduces a change that erases a vital forensic artifact used to detect infections from Pegasus and Predator #spyware, making it significantly harder for researchers and users to identify compromised iPhones, according to iVerify researchers. cyberinsider.com/apples-ios-2...

Recorded Future just published Dark Covenant 3.0, revealing how global crackdowns and shifting Russian enforcement are reshaping the cybercriminal underground, exposing ties to state actors and turning cybercrime into a geopolitical tool: www.recordedfuture.com/research/dar...

The daughter of 🇵🇱Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has been named as a victim in an ongoing probe into the alleged illegal use of surveillance #spyware under Poland’s previous government. tvpworld.com/89599534/peg...

Michał Woś, a member of 🇵🇱Poland’s right-wing populist party Law and Justice (PiS) & former deputy justice minister, has been formally charged with abuse of power in connection with the illegal purchase of Pegasus #spyware using public funds. www.polskieradio.pl/395/7784/Art...

"According to three sources who have direct knowledge of these cases, there have been other spyware & exploit developers in the last few months who have received notifications from Apple alerting them that they were targeted with #spyware." ✍️ @lorenzofb.bsky.social techcrunch.com/2025/10/21/a...

SCOOP: A man who worked on developing hacking and surveillance tools for defense contractor L3Harris Trenchant was notified by Apple that his iPhone was targeted with mercenary spyware. The developer believes he was targeted after he was wrongly accused of leaking zero-days developed by Trenchant.

Well deserved recognition of independent journalism. 👏

🚀 We are excited to welcome a new team member! @selisegraham.bsky.social is the new EU Schuman Fulbright Fellow, joining the Security & Surveillance programme to work on EU #cybersecurity policies about intrusive and harmful uses of technologies, ranging from #spyware to social media platforms.

Was früher Wanzen & Spitzel waren, ist heute #Spyware. Wie schützt man #Freiheit im digitalen Zeitalter? 📆 12.11., 18:30 Uhr #BerlinFreedomWeek; Diskussion mit Carine Kanimba, @andre.netzpolitik.org ; @jsrailton.bsky.social; @mariannebirthler.bsky.social u.a. Infos & Anmeldung 👇

Italian prosecutors reportedly interrogated the heds of the country's two intelligence agencies (AISI and AISE.) Prosecutors are investigating the alleged targeting of journalists Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino, among others. At this point, it's unclear who hacked them.

ICYMI (story broke late Friday evening): A judge has ordered NSO Group to stop targeting WhatsApp users. At the same time the judge reduced the damages the spyware maker had to pay to WhatsApp from $167 million to $4M, becasue there was no evidence NSO’s behavior was “particularly egregious."

Judge in WhatsApp/NSO case orders NSO to stop targeting WhatsApp users w/ spyware. NSO previously told judge such an injunction would "force NSO out of business." Spokesperson now says ruling "will not apply to NSO’s customers," raising questions about NSO intentions therecord.media/judge-bars-n...

PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.