Armenia: Azerbaijan Hacks Armenian Journalist Astghik Bedevyan’s Phone During War
Pegasus spyware used for the first time in an international war
Location: Armenia, Yerevan
Date: May 29, 2023
Azerbaijan targets Astghik Bedevyan, a senior journalist at RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, by hacking into her phone, installing Pegasus spyware during the 2021 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is appalled Azerbaijan — a dictatorship known for crushing critical voices inside the country — used its nefarious tactics across state borders to spy on foreign citizens, especially in times of war. CFWIJ demands Azerbaijan ceases illegal surveillance of journalists inside and outside the country and urges Pegasus’ developer NSO group to halt providing their technologies to bad-faith actors.
“I felt that my personal privacy was rudely violated,” Astghik Bedevyan, a senior journalist at RFE/RL’s Armenian Service and Radio Azatutyun, told Access Now.
On May 25, Access Now published the "Pegasus Project" findings, revealing that Azerbaijan has been unlawfully surveilling civil society organizations, public officials, and journalists in Armenia, including Astghik Bedevyan.
The RFE/RL reporter’s device was infected with Pegasus malware around May 11, 2021, the month preceding the parliamentary elections in Armenia, which she was covering at the time. The elections' primary focus was the aftermath of Armenia’s defeat in the Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan in 2020.
Bedevyan said the hacking had significantly impacted her and her family because there was personal information on her phone, including about her children.
The timing of the hacking strongly suggests that the targeting is related to the violent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which escalated again when Azerbaijan attacked Armenia on May 12, 2021. More bloody confrontations followed in July and November 2021.
Access Now’s launched their investigation with Amnesty International, CyberHUB-AM, the Citizen Lab, and Ruben Muradyana after Apple alerted of possible Azerbaijani-sponsored spyware targeting Armenian citizens’ devices.
According to the investigation, 12 individuals' Apple devices were targeted with Pegasus malware between October 2020, a month prior to November 9, 2020 ceasefire agreement that locked territorial gains for Azerbaijan, and December 2022, when Azerbaijan blockaded the Lachin corridor.
NSO Group’s Bloody Trail
Pegasus is spyware developed by Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group. The spyware can track the target device's calls and locations, read text messages, record passwords, access microphones and cameras, and harvest information from apps. NSO Group sells its technology exclusively to governments.
On November 2, 2021, the United States Commerce Department added NSO Group to its Entity List for misconduct and facilitation of providing spyware to foreign governments that maliciously targeted government officials, journalists, human rights defenders, and embassy workers.
CFWIJ previously documented the use of spyware against journalists. On May 3, prominent Dominican reporter Nuria Piera found her phone was infected with Pegasus. Piera was reporting on a high-profile investigation into senior government officials and their relatives when the spyware was found.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands in solidarity with journalist Astghik Bedevyan. The intrusive surveillance is a serious violation of the freedom of the press and has severe consequences that could impact the journalist’s mental and physical health. We are appalled that the NSO Group continues to aid serious human rights violations which threaten democracy, intimidate the free press, and sabotage civil society. We are especially outraged that NSO Group seems to have no issues helping Azerbaijan, which is known to use any means necessary to stifle the free press. CFWIJ vehemently denounces Azerbaijan's illicit transnational hacking of Armenian journalists, especially in times of war. We demand authorities immediately cease using Pegasus spyware and call on NSO Group to halt providing their software to authoritarian states.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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