Privacy violated. Police and intelligence services in Serbia are using advanced mobile forensics products. They are also using earlier unknown spyware to illegally surveil journalists, environmental campaigners, and civil rights activists. This information comes from a report.

The report reveals the use of mobile forensic products from the Israeli firm Cellebrite. These products unlock and extract data from individuals’ mobile devices. These devices are being infected with a new Android spyware system, NoviSpy.

Serbian authorities are using surveillance technology and digital repression tactics. These are instruments of wider state control. They are directed against civil society. This is according to Dinushika Dissanayake of Amnesty International, which authored the report.

Dissanayake, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for Europe, said the report showed the risks of Cellebrite products. These products are used by police and intelligence services worldwide. They could pose “an enormous risk” to rights activists “when used outside strict legal control”.

Cellebrite’s tools for law enforcement agencies and government entities allow data extraction from an array of devices. These devices include recent Android and iPhone mobile phones. The tools can unlock phones without access to the device’s passcode.

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