Ron Deibert

I am the founder and current Director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, where I'm also a political scientist.

Last Notes

2026-09-03 22:53:25 GMT

Ever since Apple started sending out notifications in 2021 alerting customers that have been targeted with mercenary spyware, new cases of abuse have rolled into the Citizen Lab for us to investigate.
Yesterday, we published a new report in collaboration with colleagues at The SHARE Foundation after 14 Serbian protestors, a member of parliament, and a local councillor received Apple notifications warning them their phones had been targeted with spyware.
Our forensic analysis shows that the iPhone of one of those student protestors was infected with a zero-click version of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware across December 2025 to January 2026. The exploit used in this attack was patched by Apple as of iOS 18.4.1. We are not disclosing the name of the victim at their request.
The Serbian student protest movement emerged in November 2024, and has grown into waves of protest and civil disobedience against the corruption of Serbia’s current government led by President Aleksandar Vučić. Vučić’s regime has responded with repression and propaganda, including the use of excessive force and arrests, and media campaigns aiming to discredit the opposition.
Our latest investigation with The Share Foundation shows that the regime is also apparently willing to do what an unfortunately large number of illiberal regimes are doing: hacking into the phones of peaceful political opposition movements to snoop on them.
This case shows yet again the value of tech companies sending out notifications. Apple’s latest round of notifications (that included the Serbian protestors) is the largest of them so far, and includes victims in more than 100 countries. Stay tuned for more!
Read the full report here: https://citizenlab.ca/research/pegasus-spyware-infection-of-serbian-activist/
Read The Share Foundation’s report here: https://sharefoundation.info/en/share-foundation-students-and-opposition-politicians-targeted-by-spyware/
Media
Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/c9c3a0ef-98d5-4aeb-9d20-e6250d6fcf99?syn-25a6b1a6=1
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/03/serbians-targeted-with-advanced-spyware
Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/more-than-dozen-serbians-targeted-with-mercenary-spyware-digital-rights-group-2026-09-02/
Cyberscoop: https://cyberscoop.com/pegasus-novispy-variant-spyware-found-on-devices-of-serbian-activists/
LeMonde: https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2026/09/02/en-serbie-l-opposition-ciblee-par-le-logiciel-espion-pegasus_6764464_4408996.html
Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-02/spyware-targeted-serbian-protest-organizers-phones-report-says

2026-08-13 14:32:50 GMT

https://files.ioc.exchange/iocexchange/media_attachments/files/117/088/684/488/390/022/original/93fa71cd1467f46b.mp4

2026-08-13 14:31:31 GMT

Re-upping my April 2026 Lawfare essay on "The Perils of Privatized Cyberwarfare" in light of Trump's new Executive Order authorizing US private firms to conduct offensive cyber operations (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/expanding-capabilities-to-combat-transnational-cyber-enabled-crime/)
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-perils-of-privatized-cyberwarfare

2026-07-03 10:34:50 GMT

NEW @nprofile…zsgy report:
Member of Euro Parliament committee tasked with investigating spyware abuses himself hacked with Pegasus spyware
https://citizenlab.ca/research/member-of-committee-investigating-spyware-hacked-with-pegasus/

2026-06-19 13:15:14 GMT

Political scientist here 👋
Can everyone please stop using "nation-state" when referring to state-based cyber espionage. There are no "nation-states" in the world. Nearly every state is made up of multiple "nations". Even Iceland and North Korea have minority nations.
A nation is a form of collective identity. A "state" is a government that is sovereign over a particular territory, recognized by other states in the international system.
I don't know where or how this started. People use it because it sounds big and impressive. The big giant "Nation State".
Drives me crazy.
Rant over