The Citizen Lab’s core mission is to undertake research on digital threats against civil society. During the course of our investigations into mercenary spyware, we will occasionally observe cases where we suspect that governments are using spyware to undertake international espionage against other governments. The vast majority of these cases are outside of our scope and mission. However, in certain select cases, where appropriate and while preserving our independence, we decide to notify these governments through the official channels, especially if we believe that our actions can reduce harm.
We confirm that in 2020 and 2021 we observed and notified the government of the United Kingdom of multiple suspected instances of Pegasus spyware infections within official UK networks. These included:
The Prime Minister’s Office (10 Downing Street)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) (Now the Foreign Commonwealth and Development office – FCDO)
— source citizenlab.ca | Apr 18, 2022