In Serbia, Viber has become much more than a messaging app – for many citizens, it has also become a source of problems. Since the beginning of the protests in the country, messages from parents' and activist groups have increasingly ended up in the tabloids, and their authors - in police interrogations.
From the number registered with Telekom Srbija, which is constantly unavailable, two BIRN journalists received identical messages on the same day, which contained a link to install the Pegasus spyware.
The eavesdropped discussion of the Novi Sad PSG board is at the level of banter in pub conversations, such as are held throughout Serbia. Its publication shows all the misery of the severely shaken government, as well as the wanderings of parts of the opposition parties
People's deputies Marinika Tepić (SSP), Miroslav Aleksić (NPS) and Radomir Lazović (ZLF) speak for "Vreme" when they first suspected that their every word was going to the secret services and that the regime was abusing that information. Although their privacy is threatened even when they are in their own home and when it comes to their health problems, they have remained silent for years. They say they were overcome by the fear of having their words twisted in public and of being stigmatized as paranoid.
Amnesty International and BIRN research have shown that the BIA has been planting spyware on the phones of journalists and activists. Representatives of civil society therefore filed a criminal complaint
The BIA does not have the legal authority to confiscate and monitor phones on its own initiative, without an express order from the court and the prosecution. But, as BIRN's research shows, she persistently does it
A BIRN investigation and a forensic analysis by Amnesty International revealed that the BIA, using Israeli Cellebrite technology, unlocked the phones of activists it called or brought in for interviews and installed the domestic spying program NoviSpy on those devices.
The Belgrade Center for Security Policy warns of reports that reveal that Serbia's security institutions systematically misused spyware to illegally collect data from the devices of journalists, activists and citizens who peacefully express their disagreement with the authorities.
IMSI catchers, a technology capable of intercepting communication from mobile phones, have been present in Serbia for ten years. Without adequate legal frameworks, the use of these devices raises questions about mass surveillance, abuses and the protection of basic human rights
Owners of internet platforms claim that eavesdropping via mobile phones is impossible, but users hardly believe it
The implementation of secret surveillance measures in Montenegro showed numerous shortcomings and raised the question of whether police wiretapping is carried out in accordance with the law. Competent institutions deny the possibility of illegal wiretapping
Google stores audio of user activity on the web and in apps, including verbal interactions with "search," "assistant" and "maps" options, to improve voice recognition technologies
The research conveys the experience of 32 students from China - 12 of them study in Hong Kong, and the rest at universities in Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and the United States.
The case of police general Slobodan Malešić reveals how prosecutors in Serbia gather evidence and information using malware that works like the notorious Predator and Pegasus, which members of the Security Intelligence Agency install on suspects' phones.
The head of the Russian state channel RT, Margarita Simonyan, published an audio recording on Friday in which German aviation officers criticize Chancellor Scholz, discuss the technical capabilities of the "Taurus" cruise missile - and whether it would be suitable to destroy the Crimean bridge. The Ministry of Defense in Berlin confirmed that the officers were indeed wiretapped
Tomislav Radovanović, then head of the UKP's Special Investigative Methods Service, claimed that he listened to all 1800 conversations in which the President of Serbia was allegedly eavesdropped. His conclusion: there is nothing suspicious about them
Digital forensics is still not over, but how do you know that these are state-sponsored attacks? This spy software is extremely expensive and it is clear that only a serious motive can be behind its use. And who better to try to spy on representatives of civil society than the state
"Vreme" reveals all the clashes and conflicts between the power centers that preceded the arrest of the general, who in the investigations against him was marked as "the most important job in the state". Police General Slobodan Malešić (pictured) was in contact with powerful people from the world of politics and business, such as the brother of the state president Andrej Vučić, the then mayor of Novi Sad Miloš Vučević and the controversial businessman Zvonko Veselinović. So how did he happen to be arrested? Malešić was handcuffed as the chief of police in Novi Sad, a day after the presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia. He spent three months in the strictest detention. The indictment against him and five other people was brought by the Prosecutor's Office for organized crime. He is now on trial for three criminal offenses of influence peddling and abuse of office
Long-deleted Tinder, forgotten messages, booked hotels, purchased tickets, history of keyboard entries, locations, Wi-Fi networks used - all this can be found out by the Serbian Ministry of Interior if it gets into someone's phone
Who eavesdropped on whom and what the "parallel security structure" was doing in the EPS, according to the announcement of the president of the Movement of Free Citizens (PSG), Pavle Grbović, the public could find out during the election campaign
Russian opposition member Vladimir Kara-Murza says that Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin had him wiretapped while he was in Belgrade and that he took the transcripts of those conversations to Moscow. Vulin claims that this is a lie for which he will have to answer and that the "tycoon media in Serbia" are reporting his lies without asking or checking
