Spyware on Russian dissident Galina Tymchenko’s phone

He is a leading opposition journalist in Russia Monitored using Israeli spyware — according to an investigation by Canada’s Citizen Lab and digital rights group Access Now.

“This is the latest evidence that phone-hacking tools are being used to spy on media and opposition activists around the world,” Reuters asserted.

In the investigation, it was revealed on the phone Galina TimchenkoCo-founder and publisher of an independent Russian portal JellyfishCreated by spyware Israeli company NSO Group. On February 10, 2023, hackers allegedly hacked the opposition party’s phone. Investigators have failed to identify those responsible for these activities.

Tymchenko was in Berlin at the time of the hacker attack. – The breakup made me feel like I was stripped naked in a town square – she said in Medusa.

Media freedom watchdogs have condemned the surveillance, with the Committee to Protect Journalists saying “journalists and their sources are not free and safe if they are spied on.”

Israeli company NSO Group responded to the allegations and said: “Always investigates credible allegations of misuse”. However, the company did not say whether any investigation had been launched into the matter, nor did it respond to a question about an example of a previous investigation, Reuters reported.

Investigators, lawmakers and journalists have repeatedly accused the NSO group of helping governments spy on political opponents and undermining the credibility of independent information. In 2021 The company was blacklisted by the US government Due to concerns about human rights violations.

The attack on Galina Tymchenko was particularly high-profile, Reuters noted.

The protestor founded Medusa in Latvia … removed from his post Editor of one of the most popular Russian news websites. Since then, the portal has become the main source of information on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.