Published December 16,2024
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Serbian authorities have been utilizing refined digital surveillance know-how to spy on journalists and activists within the Balkan nation, Amnesty International mentioned in a brand new report printed Monday.
According to the report — “A Digital Prison” — Serbian authorities have deployed spyware and adware that “provides Serbian authorities with extensive surveillance capabilities once installed on a target’s device”.
The report consists of testimonies of a journalist and activist who accused authorities of covertly putting in spyware and adware on their units whereas in custody and through an interview with officers.
“Our investigation reveals how Serbian authorities have deployed surveillance technology and digital repression tactics as instruments of wider state control and repression directed against civil society,” mentioned Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for Europe.
The report highlights using the Cellebrite and NoviSpy software program and forensic instruments to focus on telephones and units belonging to members of civil society.
“NoviSpy can capture sensitive personal data from a target phone and provide capabilities to turn on a phone’s microphone or camera remotely,” mentioned Amnesty, including that “Cellebrite forensic tools are used to both unlock the phone prior to spyware infection and also allow the extraction of the data on a device”.
Independent journalists and civil society teams in Serbia have lengthy accused the federal government and its allies of concentrating on their members with defamatory statements, lawsuits and public threats.
Source: www.anews.com.tr