In various nations, new Israel malware targets journalists and leaders: Reports

A new Israeli malware, similar to the infamous Pegasus program, was used to target journalists and opposition politicians in various nations, according to information released by Canada's Citizen Lab yesterday.

The cybersecurity and human rights organization claimed that a little-known Israeli business called QuaDream Limited, founded by a former Israeli military official and a veteran employee of the NSO corporation that created Pegasus, was responsible for creating the new program.

The QuaDream program targeted individuals in North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, according to Citizen Lab, which tracks the misuse of contemporary electronic gadgets. At least five of these individuals were located in these regions.

Governments and other agencies have previously utilized spyware tools like Pegasus extensively to eavesdrop on activists, the media, and dissidents.

In late March, the White House said that states had employed Pegasus to "facilitate repression and enable human rights abuses."

According to Citizen Lab, once installed on a user's phone or computer, the QuaDream spyware may secretly record calls and external sounds, capture images using cameras, and search through device files.

For the purpose of securing ongoing access to the device owner's cloud accounts, the program can also generate two-factor authentication codes, such as passwords and security codes.

It was also mentioned that the spyware has a self-destruct option to erase its history when it isn't in use. Citizen Lab discovered servers in twelve nations, including Israel, Singapore, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, and Bulgaria, that were receiving data from victims' devices.

It claimed that QuaDream sold its spyware to governments in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Ghana, Indonesia, Morocco, and other nations.