A BIRN investigation and a forensic analysis by Amnesty International revealed that the BIA, using Israeli Cellebrite technology, unlocked the phones of activists it called or brought in for interviews and installed the domestic spying program NoviSpy on those devices.
Serbian services allegedly installed spyware in the phones of at least 13 journalists and activists, they claim Amnesty International i BIRN.
In two cases the software, which originates from an Israeli company Celebrity (Cellebrite), was used to "unlock" phones before they were infected with the spyware, according to the report.
The findings reveal the routine use of invasive spyware, including Pegasus, along with a new homegrown spyware system NoviSpy za Android devices, which was discovered for the first time in this report.
Prema Amnesty, Serbian spyware called NoviSpy then he took screenshots of the phone, copied the contacts and uploaded them to a server controlled by the government.
"In several cases, activists and journalists reported suspicious activity on their mobile phones immediately after being questioned by the Serbian police or security services," he says. Amnesty.
The Israelis are looking into the matter
Agency Reuters reports that the Serbian Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Security and Information Agency (BIA), did not respond to her inquiries on this topic.
Products of Israeli companies Celebrity are widely used around the world. They are also used by the US FBI to unlock phones.
The head of marketing of the Israeli firm, David Gee, said that they are investigating the allegations made in the Amnesty the report.
"If those allegations are true, it could potentially be a violation of the end user agreement," Gee said. And in that case, he added, the company could deny the Serbian authorities the use of the software.
He stated that the company had already tried to contact the Serbian authorities, but he did not reveal the details. "We are absolutely not in the business" of installing surveillance software on phones, Gee said.
Everything goes to the BIA server
One of the activists speaking in the Amnesty report stated that all his phone contacts were copied immediately after the conversation at the BIA.
He is Reuters said he took the phone to digital forensics experts who proved the presence of the software NoviSpy who copied contacts and sent private photos to a server controlled by the BIA.
According to Amnesty, Serbia received the "key" to the phones from A celebrity as part of a wider package that was supposed to help meet some standards for admission to the European Union in terms of fighting organized crime.
Norwegian reviews
The package was financed by the Norwegian government and managed by a United Nations office. It was delivered to Serbia between 2017 and 2021.
"The claims in the report (Amnesty) are worrying and, if true, it is unacceptable," said Maria Varteresian, Norway's deputy foreign minister.
She said she expects the UN Procurement Agency (UNOPS) to look into the matter.
UNOPS welcomed Amnesty's report and said it had put mechanisms in place since 2017 to prevent the software from being misused, but did not provide details.
BIA rejects 'nonsensical' claims in 'interest of pressure groups'
Regarding the "report" Amnesty International , published on 16.12.2024. year, Security the news agency "can only state that the trivial sensationalism of its content indicates a purpose Amnesty International which is reflected in the work for the interests of certain agencies and pressure groups," says the BIA website.
"Safety the news agency works exclusively in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Serbia and therefore we are not even able to comment on the meaningless statements from their text, as we normally do not comment on similar content".
Source: Reuters
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