Offensive cyber company QuaDream shutting down amidst spyware accusations:
According to sources, the company has been in a difficult situation for several months, and the research was the last nail in its coffin. The company hasn't been fully active for a while and it is believed that there are only two employees left in its offices whose job it is to look after the computers and other equipment. At the same time, the board of directors is trying to sell the company's intellectual property.
[...] Last week, it was reported that the Israeli firm's hacking tools have been used against journalists, opposition figures and advocacy organizations across at least 10 countries - including people in North America and Europe - according to new research published by Microsoft and the internet watchdog Citizen Lab.
According to sources, the company has been in a difficult situation for several months, and the research was the last nail in its coffin. The company hasn't been fully active for a while and it is believed that there are only two employees left in its offices whose job it is to look after the computers and other equipment. At the same time, the board of directors is trying to sell the company's intellectual property.
Citizen Lab said in its report that it had been able to identify a handful of civil society victims whose iPhones had been hacked using surveillance software developed by QuaDream - a lower-profile competitor to the Israeli spyware company NSO Group, which has been blacklisted by the U.S. government over allegations of abuse.
In its report published at the same time, Microsoft said it believed with "high confidence" that the spyware was "strongly linked to QuaDream."
In a statement, Microsoft Associate General Counsel Amy Hogan-Burney said that mercenary hacking groups like QuaDream "thrive in the shadows" and that publicly outing them was "essential to stopping this activity."
