Sept 2 - At least 14 people across Serbia's civil society were targeted with advanced spyware ahead of local elections in March, the digital rights group SHARE Foundation said on Wednesday.

The wave of spyware infections, discovered in August after Apple notified people in 110 countries that they had likely been victims of mercenary spyware, marks the largest documented wave of such infection in Serbia to date, the SHARE Foundation said in a statement.

The incident offers a window into the use of powerful and invasive spyware aimed at students and political opposition members amid contentious elections, with national polls looming.

Confirmed cases of targeting include members of a student movement, activists, opposition party members in parliament and a local councilor, the group said. At least one device was targeted with Pegasus, made by Israeli company NSO Group, while at least two devices were targeted with malware similar to NoviSpy, which was first exposed by Amnesty International in Serbia in December 2024.

Reuters could not determine who was responsible for the alleged infections. NSO has said it only sells to governments. Neither the Serbian government nor NSO Group immediately responded to requests for comment. In a report published in January, the NSO Group said it would work with clients to address potential violations.

“In cases of serious or repeated noncompliance, NSO may suspend or terminate the relationship,” the company said.

In one incident, a device associated with a member of the student movement was targeted with a zero-click version of Pegasus, meaning it did not require user interaction to deploy on the device. NoviSpy was found on the phone of a student movement member whose device had previously been taken away during police questioning, according to SHARE.

The targeting coincided with the March 29 local elections held in 10 municipalities, according to SHARE, which said they were seen as a test of how student-backed political opposition groups could organize and compete against ruling party politicians. The digital targeting could be a preview of similar ac...