Including ministers and military, Indonesian officials caught the Israeli NSO spyware

Informed sources revealed that a number of senior Indonesian government and military officials were targeted last year with spyware by the Israeli company NSO, and the user of the programs was not known.

Nine well-informed sources told Reuters that more than 12 senior Indonesian government and military officials were targeted last year with spyware designed by an Israeli surveillance company, while six of them indicated that they were targeted.

The sources said that among those targeted were Minister for Coordination of Economic Affairs Erlanga Hartarto, senior military figures, two regional diplomats and advisers in the Indonesian ministries of defense and foreign affairs.

Six of the Indonesian officials and consultants targeted said they received an email from Apple in November 2021 informing them that the company believed the officials were "being targeted by state-sponsored attackers".

Apple did not reveal the identities or number of users targeted, and declined to comment.

Apple and security researchers said the recipients of the warnings were targeted using Forced Entry, an advanced program used by the Israeli NSO group that sells electronic surveillance technologies to help foreign intelligence agencies gain remote and invisible control of iPhones.

According to Reuters, another Israeli electronic company, Quadrim, has developed an almost identical hacking tool.

The agency was unable to determine who manufactured or used the spyware to target Indonesian officials, whether the attempts were successful, or what information the hackers obtained if the attempts were successful.

According to cyber security experts, the previously unreported attempt to target Indonesian officials is one of the largest uncovered cases to date of software being used against government employees, military and defense officials.

Spokespeople for the Indonesian government, military, defense ministry and cyber security agency declined to respond to requests for comment.

A State Department spokesman said they were not aware of the matter.

NSO faces a number of overlapping lawsuits and was recently blacklisted by US officials over alleged human rights abuses.