Following a collaboration between Access Now, Citizen Lab, and digital security expert Nikolai Kvantiliani, it has been uncovered that several journalists and activists in Russia, Belarus, Latvia, and Israel were targeted with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware in the EU. Significant dates, such as “Freedom Day” in Belarus, were marked by hacking attempts. Russian-speaking journalists in the region faced multiple infection attempts, with evidence suggesting a single Pegasus operator may be behind some attacks. Interestingly, though Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Lithuania are not believed to be Pegasus customers, Estonia is considered to extensively use the spyware internationally. The investigation is ongoing, with recommendations for increased digital security measures and calls for regulation on surveillance technologies.
https://www.accessnow.org/publication/civil-society-in-exile-pegasus/