Iran's CHOSEN BRICK Spyware Targets Dissidents via WhatsApp
Surveillance control · 15.09.2026

Британия, США и Нидерланды объединились и выпустили совместное предупреждение о шпионской программе иранских спецслужб...

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Iran's CHOSEN BRICK Spyware Targets Dissidents via WhatsApp

Britain, the US, and the Netherlands have teamed up to issue a joint warning about spyware run by Iranian intelligence services. Its name sounds like a callsign for a military operation — CHOSEN BRICK. In reality, it's just a tool for surveilling dissidents, activists, and journalists through WhatsApp and Telegram.

The scheme is standard fare for intelligence agencies: spoofing trusted contacts and social engineering. Britain's NCSC notes that the attackers tailored their approach to each specific victim — going as far as sending fake MRI results to get the person to download the spyware onto their own phone. Healthcare concern, but digital and with the opposite effect.

The malware's functionality is the usual toolkit for total control: harvesting contacts, email, social media, taking screenshots, and accessing the microphone. NCSC reports that some victims' data later surfaced on pro-Iranian leak sites — meaning the surveillance wasn't an end in itself, but part of a broader public pressure campaign.

According to the FBI, Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) is behind all of this, and the goal is stated without any shame: gathering intelligence, orchestrating leaks, and damaging targets' reputations. The three countries agreed on the phrase "almost certainly" — Iran uses cyber operations to suppress those it views as threats.

The FBI hasn't disclosed how many people were affected or where exactly. What is known, however, is that a hacker persona linked to this story, Handala Hack, has previously surfaced in an attack on American medical supplier Stryker and in a leak of FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email. Iran's embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment — as usual in cases like this.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk-us-netherlands-issue-advisory-iran-spyware-2026-09-15/