Serbian Authorities Ridicule Spyware Attack Allegations Before Elections

In December, three days before New Year, Jelena Kontic was working on her phone, communicating with university colleagues, political activists and members of the public. It was during the peak of large-scale student-led protests in Serbia, and she was helping to build up a network of contacts for election monitoring. Five months later, the MA student at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, received a ‘Threat Notification’ from Apple. “Apple detected a targeted mercenary spyware attack against your iPhone,” the message read. “This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do.” Suddenly, Kontic said, her phone felt like “a ticking timebomb”. And she was not the only target. Subscribe to Balkan Insight Premium to read the full article. Please login to your account below if you are already a Premium Subscriber. Buy Premium Subscription Our Premium Service gives you full access to all content published on BalkanInsight.com, including analyses, investigations, comments, interviews and more. Choose your subscription today and get unparalleled in-depth coverage of the Southern and Eastern Europe. Buy Premium Subscription If you have trouble logging in or any other questions regarding you account, please contact us