OfficialBackgroundLondon, United Kingdom
UK, US and Netherlands expose Iranian 'CHOSEN BRICK' spyware targeting dissidents
- Mountain Time
- Local time
- 4:29 PM in London
- Where
- London, United Kingdom
Britain's National Cyber Security Centre, with partner agencies, publicly identified an Iranian state-linked spyware family called 'CHOSEN BRICK' used in spear-phishing campaigns against dissidents and journalists via WhatsApp and Telegram. NCSC Director of Operations Paul Chichester said the malware steals emails, messages, contact lists and social media data and can access a device's microphone and screen content.
Why it matters
The disclosure gives targeted individuals and organizations concrete indicators to block a known Iranian surveillance tool and signals Western governments are escalating public attribution of Iranian cyber operations amid the wider Iran-Israel-US conflict.
Sources (3)
- Computingcomputing.co.uk
- The Times of Israeltimesofisrael.com
- Al Jazeera live blogaljazeera.comPublished
Confidence: Stated by a named government, military, or institution. Not independently confirmed. About confidence labels
Correction
- Corrected the headline (it read "UK NCSC exposes Iranian spyware 'CHOSEN BRICK' targeting dissidents"); corrected the location from United Kingdom / Iran to London, United Kingdom; updated the sourcing note; added a source: Al Jazeera live blog. Why and evidence