CISA Warns of Rising Targeted Spyware Campaigns Against Encrypted Messaging Users

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued an unusually direct warning regarding a series of active campaigns deploying advanced spyware against users of encrypted messaging platforms, including Signal and WhatsApp. According to the agency, these operations are being conducted by both state-backed actors and financially motivated threat groups, and their activity has broadened significantly throughout the year. The attacks now increasingly target politicians, government officials, military personnel, and other influential individuals across several regions. 

This advisory marks the first time CISA has publicly grouped together multiple operations that rely on commercial surveillance tools, remote-access malware, and sophisticated exploit chains capable of infiltrating secure communications without alerting the victim. The agency noted that the goal of these campaigns is often to hijack messaging accounts, exfiltrate private data, and sometimes obtain long-term access to devices for further exploitation. 

Researchers highlighted multiple operations demonstrating the scale and diversity of techniques. Russia-aligned groups reportedly misused Signal’s legitimate device-linking mechanism to silently take control of accounts. Android spyware families such as ProSpy and ToSpy were distributed through spoofed versions of well-known messaging apps in the UAE. Another campaign in Russia leveraged Telegram channels and phishing pages imitating WhatsApp, Google Photos, TikTok, and YouTube to spread the C

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