Serbian police and intelligence agencies are using NoviSpy spyware and digital tools from the Israeli company Cellebrite to access the smartphones of journalists, activists, and human rights defenders, according to the report published by Amnesty International.
Amnesty International’s report, Digital Prison: Surveillance and Suppression of Civil Society in Serbia, states that Israeli Cellebrite UFED allows hacking even the latest Android and iPhone devices.
NoviSpy spyware simultaneously accesses data covertly, records conversations using a microphone, and takes pictures with the phone’s camera.
Spyware installs itself following the physical seizure of devices during interrogations or detentions.
The organization provided an example of how spyware infected independent investigative journalist Slaviša Milanov’s phone after the police took it over. Milanov told Amnesty that he was detained in February following a routine traffic stop.
After being released, Milanov discovered that his phone had been interfered with and contacted Amnesty to request assistance. The NGO determined that the phone had been unlocked using a Cellebrite device, and NoviSpy had been placed on it. According to Amnesty, forensic data indicates that the malware was installed while Serbian police were in possession of the device.
Amnesty International found that Cellebrite products were used to bypass phone security mechanisms, including vulnerabilities in popular Qualcomm chipsets. The malware actively exploited these gaps until the security bugs were fixed in October 2024.
It is noted that total digital surveillance causes self-censorship among activists and violates their right to privacy and freedom of expression.
At the same time, Cellebrite stated that the company’s products are licensed for legitimate use, but employees still launched an internal investigation.
Serbian authorities have dismissed charges that they employed forensic equipment from Israeli company Cellebrite and tailored spyware for illegal spying as “nonsensical”.
According to Amnesty, Serbia obtained Cellebrite technology in 2019 as part of a larger package of aid aimed to help the country achieve EU integration standards.
The Amnesty study comes as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić faces one of the biggest threats to his increasingly authoritarian reign, with escalating anti-government protests spearheaded by university students and opposition activists, which have so far been mostly peaceful.
Vučić has accused Western intelligence services, NGOs, and foreign media of conducting “hybrid warfare” against him and his nation by illegally funding the protests, which began following the collapse of a concrete canopy at a railway station in the country’s north that killed 15 people on November 1.
Serbia, which is nominally seeking EU membership, has been strengthening connections with Russia and China, including their espionage agencies, in what officials described as a cooperative effort to combat the so-called “colored revolutions”—street rallies against authoritarian rulers.
