GoKawiilMore than half of the world’s governments have access to commercial spyware that can break into computers and phones to steal sensitive information, according to U.K. intelligence.
The U.K. National Cyber Security Centre plans to reveal its findings Wednesday, according to Politico. The report suggests that the barrier to access this types of surveillance technology has fallen, potentially making it easier for foreign governments and hackers to target U.K. citizens, companies, and critical infrastructure with spyware.
It’s also an increase in the number of countries with access to these type of hacking tools, to 100, up from the 80 countries U.K. intelligence estimated in 2023.
Commercial spyware, developed by private companies like NSO Group’s Pegasus and Paragon’s Graphite, often relies on exploiting security flaws in phone and computer software to break into the devices and steal the data within. While governments have claimed that they only use spyware against top criminal and terror suspects, security researchers and human rights defenders have long warned that governments have misused spyware to target their critics and political adversaries, including journalists.
U.K. intelligence now says that the victimology has “expanded” in recent years to include bankers and wealthy businesspeople.
Richard Horne, who runs the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre, said in a speech at the CYBERUK conference in Glasgow that British companies are “failing to grasp the reality of today’s world,” per a pre-released copy of his speech seen by TechCrunch.
Horne said that the majority of nationally significant cyberattacks targeting the United Kingdom has originated from foreign adversarial governments, rather than cybercriminal gangs.
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