UK Intelligence Agencies Say At Least 100 Countries Possess Phone-Hacking Commercial Spyware
A recent assessment by UK intelligence agencies reveals that over half of the world's countries now have access to commercial spyware tools capable of hacking computers and phones and stealing sensitive information. The threat is being seriously underestimated by UK businesses and critical infrastructure operators. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will release a report this Wednesday stating that the barrier to acquiring these high-end surveillance technologies is continuously lowering, making it easier for foreign governments and hackers to target UK citizens, businesses, and critical infrastructure.
The report estimates that the number of countries possessing these hacking tools has risen from approximately 80 in a 2023 assessment to 100.
This commercial spyware is typically developed by private companies, such as Israel’s NSO Group, known for its “Pegasus” software, and Paragon, which provides tools like “Graphite.” It often operates by exploiting security vulnerabilities in phone or computer operating systems and applications, silently infiltrating devices and stealing data. Governments consistently claim that these tools are only used against serious criminals and terrorism suspects, but security researchers and human rights advocates have long warned that many governments have abused spyware to monitor critics and political opponents, including sensitive groups like journalists. UK intelligence officials point out that the range of victims of these attacks has been “expanding” in recent years, now extending to bankers and wealthy business people.
Richard Horne, Director-General of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, stated during a speech at the CYBERUK conference in Glasgow that UK businesses “haven’t really woken up to the reality of the world today.” The speech emphasized that major nationwide cyberattacks against the UK “are overwhelmingly originating from hostile foreign governments, not traditional cybercrime gangs.” At the same time, the UK and many other countries continue to experience intrusion activity attributed to China, with actions aimed at stealing sensitive data, monitoring high-level targets, and laying the groundwork for potential future disruptive attacks. Officials and security experts on the British side are concerned that these actions may be intended to interfere with Western military response capabilities to a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait at some point in the future.
The UK side emphasizes that the spyware threat currently facing them comes not only from national governments but also from cybercriminals who are beginning to acquire these advanced tools. Earlier this year, a hacking toolkit called “DarkSword” was leaked online, containing multiple exploits that can attack modern iPhones and iPads. Anyone can replicate the toolkit to build malicious websites and attack users of Apple devices that have not been upgraded to the latest system versions. This leak once again confirms a fact that has been repeatedly proven by reality: even top-tier hacking tools developed and tightly guarded by governments for their own intelligence and security purposes can spread rapidly and expose millions of ordinary users to malicious attacks once they fall out of control.