Predator Spyware Is Alive & Well & Expanding

The infamous Predator mobile spyware operation publicly exposed in an eye-popping report last year by Amnesty International has revamped its malware delivery network and expanded its reach into Botswana and the Philippines.

Researchers from Recorded Future's Insikt Group, which spotted Predator's updated architecture, said the mercenary mobile spyware enterprise now operates in at least 11 countries with the addition of Botswana and the Philippines.

The updated and tiered malware network infrastructure includes delivery servers, upstream servers, and static IP addresses in the 11 nations suspected to be Predator customers: Angola, Armenia, Botswana, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Oman, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and Trinidad and Tobago.

"While Predator stands out as one of the premier providers of mercenary spyware, alongside NSO Group's Pegasus, the tactics, techniques, and procedures [TTPs] it uses during its delivery process have remained consistent over time, likely indicating their ongoing success," the Insikt team wrote in its findings.