CNN —Hackers aligned with Vietnam tried to use social media platforms X and Facebook to install spyware on the phones of dozens of high-profile targets, including US lawmakers, United Nations officials and CNN journalists, Amnesty International said Monday. Researchers with Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which tracks state-backed hackers, told CNN the Twitter account spreading the spyware appears to be based in Vietnam. For years, cybersecurity researchers and human rights activists have documented the proliferation of spyware designed to break into mobile phones and steal their contents. “Clearly these tools are being exported from the EU to states with terrible human rights records,” Ó Cearbhaill, of Amnesty International, told CNN. “Meanwhile, if European lawmakers won’t bring consequences to reckless vendors, they need to get comfortable with being targeted,” Scott-Railton told CNN.

---

Persons: Democratic Sens, Gary Peters, Chris Murphy, Michael McCaul, tweeting, Cearbhaill, Ó Cearbhaill, McCaul doesn’t, Leslie Shedd, Shedd, Murphy, “, Peters, Joe Biden, ” Ó, ” John Scott, ” Scott, Railton Organizations: CNN, Facebook, United Nations, Amnesty, –, Democratic, Republican, House Foreign, Amnesty International’s, Washington Post, Google’s, State Department, NSO Group, Intellexa, US Commerce Department, Amnesty International, University of Toronto’s, Commerce Locations: Vietnam, Washington ,, Washington, Africa, North Macedonia, Europe