NSO Group spyware focuses on UN official and targets Armenia.

During the 2021 regional conflicts, Pegasus infiltrated more than a dozen targets.

The inaugural use of NSO Group’s surveillance technology in a military conflict has been documented, targeting journalists, human rights advocates, a UN official, and members of civil society in Armenia. The campaign, spanning from October 2020 to December 2022, appears to be linked to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict concerning Nagorno-Karabakh.

Previous investigations into NSO Group’s misuse of spyware have already affirmed, according to researchers, that Azerbaijan is a government client of NSO Group, supported by substantial evidence.

The significance of this revelation lies in the unprecedented documentation of Pegasus, a military-grade spyware with the capability to hack and remotely control any phone, being employed within a military conflict.

An NSO spokesperson mentioned that the company cannot provide a comment on the new report by Access Now and others since it has not been shared with NSO.

Previous inquiries into allegations of “improper utilization of our technologies” by clients have resulted in the termination of multiple contracts, as stated.

Researchers from Access Now, CyberHUB-AM, the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, Amnesty International’s Security Lab, and Ruben Muradyan, an independent mobile security researcher, conducted the investigation.

The hacking of individuals in Armenia came to light in November 2021, following a series of clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border that led to the loss of at least 200 lives—a significant escalation since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Further evidence suggests that Azerbaijan is an NSO customer, as indicated by the Citizen Lab’s findings of Pegasus one-click infections linked to infrastructure disguised as Azerbaijani political websites. Amnesty Tech’s investigation also uncovered Azerbaijan-related domains strongly implying Azerbaijan’s potential role as a Pegasus client.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani embassies in the United States have not yet responded to the request for comment.