“Timchenko’s hacked iPhone had a Latvian SIM card. Citizen Lab recorded the first Pegasus-related activity in Latvia in 2018, and experts believe Riga still uses NSO Group’s products today, says Scott-Railton.”
Pegasus hit Galina Timchenko’s iPhone on February 10, one day before she met other exiled Russian journalists in Berlin. NSO tells clients Russian targets are off limits, which puts Latvia and Estonia, both Pegasus buyers, high on the suspect list. Latvia’s security service refused to say whether it spies on journalists. The exiles fled Moscow’s censors, and the likeliest spies are their European hosts.