According to an article in the Israeli business publication Calcalist, QuaDream, a vendor of spyware, is reportedly planning to cease its operations in the upcoming days. This comes shortly after Citizen Lab and Microsoft uncovered the company’s hacking tools.
The report, which cites anonymous sources, states that QuaDream has been struggling for several months and has not been fully operational during that time. The company’s board of directors is allegedly seeking to sell its intellectual property.
A win for Cyber security
QuaDream, a private-sector offensive actor (PSOA) that markets end-to-end hacking tools, is reportedly shutting down its operations following the revelation of its spyware framework, REIGN. This framework was used to target journalists, political opposition figures, and NGO workers across North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and was described by Microsoft as a suite of exploits, malware, and infrastructure designed to exfiltrate data from mobile devices.
The attacks involved exploiting a flaw in iOS, which Apple claims to have fixed with the release of iOS 14.4.2 in March 2021. QuaDream had previously sold its spyware technology to Saudi Arabia for zero-click attacks, according to Haaretz.
Last year, Reuters disclosed that the company had developed an exploit to break into iPhones using a flaw in iMessage, similar to the one provided by NSO Group, which Apple fixed in September 2021.
According to CTech, “QuaDream has notified all its employees that they will be laid off and summoned them for a hearing. The company is expected to shut down in the coming days. QuaDream has reportedly been in a “difficult situation for several months” and it’s believed the reports released last week by Microsoft and Citizen Lab sealed its fate.”
Concluding thoughts
Israeli spyware vendors have worked hard to spread the threats amongst common users. But an intelligent and innovative move from the ethical technology providers has kept the world safe and in safe hands. So let’s come together to say ‘NO’ to spyware.
Marrium Akhtar
April 18, 2023
1 year ago
