CISA warns spyware crews are breaking into Signal and WhatsApp accounts

CISA has warned that state-backed snoops and cyber-mercenaries are actively abusing commercial spyware to break into Signal and WhatsApp accounts, hijack devices, and quietly rummage through the phones of what the agency calls "high-value" users. In an alert published Monday, the US government's cyber agency said it's tracking multiple miscreants that are using a mix of phishing, bogus QR codes, malicious app impersonation, and, in some cases, full-blown zero-click exploits to compromise messaging apps which most people assume are safe. The agency says the activity it's seeing suggests an increasing focus on "high-value" individuals – everyone from current and former senior government, military, and political officials to civil society groups across the US, the Middle East, and Europe. In many of the campaigns, attackers delivered spyware first and asked questions later, using the foothold to deploy more payloads and deepen their access. "CISA is aware of multiple cyber threat actors actively leveraging commercial spyware to target users of mobile messaging applications," the agency said. "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 campaigns CISA flags in its bulletin show attackers doing what they do best: sidestepping encryption entirely by ...