Finnish diplomats working abroad have claimed that they have been hacked by sophisticated spyware, alleging it to be the work of the Israeli spyware company, NSO Group.
According to the Finnish Foreign Ministry, the Pegasus software developed by Israeli spyware company NSO Group can seamlessly infiltrate a mobile phone, giving away the device’s location history and contents.
As part of a statement put forth by the Finnish Foreign Ministry, “The highly sophisticated malware has infected users’ Apple or Android telephones without their noticing and without any action from the user’s part.”
“Through the spyware, the perpetrators may have been able to harvest data from the device and exploit its features,” it continued.
Finland’s Ambassador for Cyber Security, Jarmo Sareva, was skeptical of giving away any information but noted that data transmitted by phone must be public or classified at the lowest level under government protocols.
Sareva didn’t disclose how many diplomats were targeted or in which countries the attacks occurred, but did make it clear regarding the culprits, “We have our suspicions, of course.”