Serbian activists file complaint over spyware use

BELGRADE: Several Serbian NGOs filed complaints Tuesday against members of the police and security services following an Amnesty International report that authorities were using sophisticated digital surveillance technology to spy on journalists and activists.

The rights watchdog´s December 16 report, “A Digital Prison,” said Serbian authorities had used spyware that provided them “extensive surveillance capabilities once installed on a target´s device.”

The report includes testimonies of an activist and a journalist who accused authorities of covertly installing spyware on their devices while being questioned by authorities.

“We have filed a criminal complaint against unidentified individuals from the Security Information Agency (BIA) and the police on suspicion of committing unauthorised collection of personal data, creating and introducing computer viruses and electronic data processing,” said Dusan Pokusevski from the expert organization SHARE, which focuses on digital security. The Amnesty report highlighted the use of software made by Israeli firm Cellebrite to extract information from smartphones belonging to activists and journalists, as well as to introduce what is believed to be a locally developed spyware program called NoviSpy.

The app can remotely activate a phone´s microphone or camera for recording and extracting sensitive personal data, according to Amnesty.

Cellebrite products are widely used by law enforcement agencies worldwide to unlock smartphones and search for evidence.

Serbia´s intelligence agency dismissed the Amnesty report´s claims as “absurd”.

In a separate statement, Serbian police said its forces only use forensic tools in accordance with the country´s laws.

But activists claim that Serbia´s legal framework does not provide a legal basis for the intrusive measures detailed in the Amnesty report. They also claim to have evidence that data from infected devices was sent to a server hosted on an IP address previously linked to the BIA.