Earlier this year, former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’s personal phone was found to be infected by spyware distributed by foreign agents. This posed a signification national security risk, the UK stated. the incident was discovered over the summer during the Conservative Party leadership contest. Truss worried that the spyware may impact her chances of winning. However, the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly imposed a news blackout on the incident.
No evidence was provided at the time to link the breach to Russia, however, security researchers found that a year’s worth of messages may have been downloaded by an unauthorized intruder. The messages included highly sensitive conversations with other countries’ foreign ministers such as details about arms shipments and the war in Ukraine. ESET researchers believe that the spyware installed on Truss’s phone could have been the notorious Pegasus malware.
