News Desk
KARACHI: Amnesty International has revealed the presence of an advanced Israeli-made spyware system, known as Predator, being used inside Pakistan, despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The findings emerged from the “Intellexa Leaks”, an investigation led by Amnesty that documented how the spyware targeted a human rights lawyer from Balochistan. The lawyer approached Amnesty in the summer of 2025 after receiving a suspicious WhatsApp link. Analysis by Amnesty’s Security Lab confirmed the link as a Predator attack, marking the first publicly reported case of its kind in Pakistan.
According to the report, Predator employs a “one-click” infection method. When a target taps the malicious link, the spyware exploits vulnerabilities in web browsers such as Chrome and Safari, breaches the phone’s operating system, and silently installs itself. Once active, it gains sweeping access to personal data, including messages on WhatsApp and Signal, emails, call logs, passwords, contacts, photos, and location history.
The investigation, carried out in collaboration with Greece’s Inside Story, Israel’s Haaretz, and Switzerland’s WAV Research Collective, also highlighted Intellexa’s development of a more sophisticated tool, Aladdin, which uses “zero-click” attacks. This method exploits vulnerabilities in global advertising networks, enabling attackers to compromise phones without any user interaction.
Google reportedly issued warnings last year to dozens of users worldwide, including in Pakistan, alerting them to potential targeting by Predator operators. Amnesty said it sought answers from Intellexa about the spyware’s deployment, but the company declined to respond.
