A report released by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said the United Arab Emirates was suspected of orchestrating spyware attacks on No 10 in 2020 and 2021.
Pegasus is the hacking software-or spyware - developed, marketed and licensed to governments around the world by the Israeli firm NSO Group. It can infect phones running either iOS or Android operating systems.
Citizen Lab said there had also been suspected attacks on the Foreign Office over the same two years that were also associated with Pegasus operators linked to the UAE - as well as India, Cyprus and Jordan.
The researchers, considered among the leading experts in detecting digital attacks, announced they had taken the rare step of notifying Whitehall of the attack as they believed “our actions can reduce harm”. However, they were not able to identify the individuals within No 10 and the Foreign Office who are suspected of having been hacked.
Citizen Lab said: "We confirm that in 2020 and 2021 we observed and notified the government of the United Kingdom of multiple suspected instances of Pegasus spyware infections within official UK networks. These included: the prime minister's office (10 Downing Street) [and] the Foreign and Commonwealth Office...
"The suspected infections relating to the FCO were associated with Pegasus operators that we link to the UAE, India, Cyprus and Jordan. The suspected infection at the UK prime minister's office was associated with a Pegasus operator we link 4 to the UAE.”
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