Senior Officials and Ministry Employees Affected by Cyberattacks in Armenia

In Armenia, citizens targeted by the "Pegasus" spy software include many well-known figures, high-ranking government officials, and even the phones of some their children have been infected. This information was shared with Sputnik Armenia by information security expert Samvel Martirosyan.

Last night, Apple sent notifications to numerous individuals, indicating that they had become targets of state-sponsored hackers. The focus here is on the "Pegasus" spyware.

"If users received messages, it does not necessarily mean that they were just infected or that it happened yesterday. Apple has simply detected signs and found that certain people's phones are infected. Research shows that in some cases, the infection occurred as far back as May or April 2021. Thus, it is not that attacks have increased, but rather that previous infections are being uncovered now," Martirosyan explained.

He noted that although he cannot disclose the names of individuals unless they publicize their experiences, the peculiar aspect of the latest wave is that many ministry employees and representatives of foundations, who would not typically be of great interest for espionage, have also been targeted.

"The infection process is very expensive, indicating that significant sums of money have been spent for this purpose. Experts believe that the main perpetrator is Azerbaijan, which is trying to establish connections or gain access to information about higher-ranking officials through specific individuals. It is also possible that intelligence services are pursuing specific leads to investigate particular people. It should also be understood that part of the infections might have originated from other countries, suggesting that the orderers of these infections are not limited to just one state," our interlocutor stated.

According to Martirosyan, programs like Pegasus typically spread infections when the phone owner takes a certain action. For instance, a suspicious link is sent to the phone owner, which activates the infection; alternatively, a person can receive a call via the WhatsApp application from someone unknown, and even if they do not answer, the phone can still become infected.

The expert noted that the perpetrator can steal files, information, and photos stored on the phone and can discreetly activate the camera or microphone, effectively becoming a wiretapper while tracking the phone owner’s location. The easiest way to eliminate the infection is to turn the phone off and back on; however, this works only if there are no hidden updates involved.

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