Researchers from Kaspersky discovered a new version of the Mandrake Android spyware in five app on Google Play, totaling over 32,000 downloads between 2022 and 2024. Researchers from Bitdefender discovered the high-sophisticated Android spyware Mandrake in 2022, while investigating highly targeted attacks against specific devices. The original Mandrake campaign had two major infection waves, in…

Malicious actors are targeting users of a mobile currency game by using fake Android and Windows software that installs spyware and other malware. Hamster Kombat launched in March and already has more than 250 million users, likely due to the promises of winning TON-based cryptocurrency. The game is for Android users, who can earn in-game…

The controversial spyware Pegasus and its operator, the Israeli NSO Group, is once again in the news. Last week, in documents filed in a judgment between NSO and WhatsApp, they admitted that any of their clients can target anyone with their spyware, including government or military officials because their jobs are inherently legitimate intelligence targets….

The security researcher Eric Daigle discovered a commercial spyware app, called pcTattletale, on the check-in systems of at least three Wyndham hotels across the US, TechCrunch first reported. Parents often use the app to monitor their children’s online activities or by employers to keep track of employee productivity and internet usage. Daigle discovered the commercial…

Blackberry researchers discovered a renewed cyber espionage campaign targeting South Asia with an Apple iOS spyware called LightSpy. The sophisticated mobile spyware has resurfaced after several months of inactivity, the new version of LightSpy, dubbed “F_Warehouse”, supports a modular framework with extensive spying capabilities.

Dangerous spyware masquerading as a set of legitimate Telegram “mods” inside the official Google Play app store has been downloaded tens of thousands of times — and its existence poses serious ramifications for business users. Modified applications (“mods”) for the popular messaging client are a well-known part of the Telegram ecosystem. Mods are apps that…

Android smartphone device manufacturer Samsung has a patch for a flaw used by commercial surveillance hackers to implant malware in the United Arab Emirates. Security researchers at Google and Amnesty International in March reported an exploit chain apparently developed by Barcelona spyware vendor Variston to deploy a surveillance malware to devices located in the UAE….

A European Parliament committee investigating the abuse of commercial spyware tools such as Pegasus recommended a slew of new regulatory safeguards but dropped a preliminary call for a moratorium. In place of a continental pause on European Union member governments’ deployment of spyware that can surreptitiously infect smartphones to record the location, telephone calls and…

The global commercial spyware market will expand over the next five years as demand for advanced surveillance tools by governments surges, says a new report from the U.K’s National Cyber Security Centre. The NCSC report, which defines the proliferation of surveillance tools such as NSO Group’s Pegasus as a threat, assesses that at least 80…