NoviSpy Spyware Installed on Journalist's Phone After Unlocking It With Cellebrite Tool
Dec 16, 2024
Spyware / Surveillance
A Serbian journalist had his phone first unlocked by a Cellebrite tool and subsequently compromised by a previously undocumented spyware codenamed NoviSpy , according to a new report published by Amnesty International. "NoviSpy allows for capturing sensitive personal data from a target's phone after infection and provides the ability to turn on the phone's microphone or camera remotely," the company said in an 87-page technical report. An analysis of forensic evidence points to the spyware installation occurring when the phone belonging to independent journalist Slaviša Milanov was in the hands of the Serbian police during his detention in early 2024. Some of the other targets included youth activist Nikola Ristić, environmental activist Ivan Milosavljević Buki, and an unnamed activist from Krokodil, a Belgrade-based organization promoting dialogue and reconciliation in the Western Balkans. The development marks one of the first known instances where two dispara...