The Ministry for Foreign Affairs said on Friday that some of the diplomats working in its Finnish embassies had been subjected to espionage. The ministry did not disclose where the hacking took place.
F-Secure Cyber Security Expert Mikko Hyppönen said that this is the first time Pegasus, developed by the Israeli NSO Group, has been incorporated into Finland.
Pegasus can not only record calls, copy messages and see emails, it can also listen through the phone’s microphone and use the camera to shoot.
"The malware has infected users’ Apple or Android phones without their knowledge or intervention. Through spyware, authors may have been able to gather information about your device and take advantage of its features." the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry has not said how many Finnish diplomats have been infected with spyware.
Although Hyppönen told STT that he did not have the details of the case, he said the clues suggested that there was a state actor behind the espionage.
"NSO sells this program only to the states and it is not easy to copy or use it for other purposes without permission. UFO knows for sure who is using this program," Hyppönen explained.
Antti PelttariThe head of the Security and Intelligence Service (Supon) told MTV on commercial broadcasts on Friday that there was probably a state behind the espionage.
Hyppönen did not want to speculate on where the hacking of Finnish diplomats’ phones took place. At the same time, the ministry revealed that it has been investigating the case since last fall.
"Spying is no longer active," the ministry said.
The government stressed that it is highly unlikely that sensitive information would have been accessed by outsiders, as government rules restrict the transmission of classified information by telephone.
However, Hyppönen stated that the person behind the cyber attack may have known about the physical movements of the diplomats and the people who came into contact with them.
He added that Pegasus spyware attacks are difficult and expensive to implement.
"You have to be quite an exceptional and interesting person to be exposed to such a complex and expensive spyware attack," he said.
Pegasus has been linked to espionage cases against corporate CEOs, human rights activists, journalists, dissidents and politicians, including the President of France Emmanuel Macron.
However, Hyppönen pointed out that the victims of Pegasus have mainly been citizens of Latin America or the Middle East, so Finns are an exception in this group.