CISA alert draws attention to spyware’s targeting of messaging apps

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned Monday about threat groups using commercial spyware to target messaging apps, and urged users to take protective steps.

“CISA is aware of multiple cyber threat actors actively leveraging commercial spyware to target users of mobile messaging applications (apps),” the agency said in a brief online notice. “These cyber actors use sophisticated targeting and social engineering techniques to deliver spyware and gain unauthorized access to a victim’s messaging app, facilitating the deployment of additional malicious payloads that can further compromise the victim’s mobile device.”

The warning draws on research this year that calls attention to hackers who are mimicking popular apps to deploy Android spyware, as well as Android spyware targeting Samsung devices by sending image files over WhatsApp. The warning also piggybacks on research about Russian hackers infecting Signal accounts.

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