9 hours agoAmnesty: Serbia used Israeli company technology for a spying campaign
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)Serbian officials installed spying programmes on the phones of dozens of journalists and activists, Amnesty International said in a report published on December 16th, citing digital forensic evidence and evidence by activists who said they had retaliated in recent months. In two cases, the software provided by the Israeli surveillance company Cellbrate DI Ltd, [...]
Serbian officials installed spying programmes on the phones of dozens of journalists and activists, Amnesty International said in a report published on December 16th, citing digital forensic evidence and evidence by activists who said they had retaliated in recent months.
In two cases, the software provided by the Israeli surveillance company Celebrite DI Ltd was used to open phones, the report said.
Serbian spy programme, named “NoviSpy” from Amnesty, then realized hidden photos of mobile equipment, copied contacts and loaded them on a government-controlled server, the report said.
“On several occasions, activists and a journalist reported signs of suspicious activities in their mobile phones immediately following interviews with Serbian police and security authorities”, Amnesty said.
Serbia's Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and intelligence agency, BIA did not respond to Amnesty's requests for comment on December 12th.
Serbia's War for Chinese Style Monitoring
Cellembrite products are widely used by law enforcement forces, including the FBI, to unlock intelligent phones and investigate evidence. Celebrite marketing chief David Gee said the company was investigating Amnesty's charges.
“If these charges are correct, they could constitute a violation of our license agreement for user”, Gee told Reuters. If it turns out so, said Gee, Cellembrite could suspend its use of technology by Serbian authorities.
Placing surveillance software into equipment “is not what we do”, Gee said. He added that Celebite had begun contacting Serbian officials, but refused to provide further details.
One of the activists mentioned by Amnesty in the report said he noticed that contacts on his phone were exported immediately after a meeting with BIA.
The activist told Reuters that he had shown the phone to digital forensic experts who found that the NoviSpy spy programme had exported his contacts and sent private photos from his device to a BIA-controlled server.
EU criticises Serbia for “controls”
According to Amnesty, Serbia had received equipment for breaking phones from Cellembrite as part of a broader aid package to help Serbia meet the requirements for integration into the European Union.
This package, financed by the Norwegian government and administered by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), was offered to Serbia's Interior Ministry from 2017 to 2021 to assist Serbia in the fight against organised crime, the report said.
The Norwegian government temporarily banned the delivery of Celebite equipment to Serbia in 2018, Amnesty said. Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade also raised concerns about the programme, the report added, but UNOPS eventually delivered the equipment in June 2019.
“The claims made in the report are alarming and, if accurate, unacceptable”, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Maria Varteressian told Reuters. “
“We expect UNOPS to investigate charges”, she added.
UNOPS said in a statement that it welcomed Amnesty's report and said that, since 2017, the agency had additionally strengthened mechanisms to assess and reduce possible negative effects”. The agency did not elaborate on these measures.
