UAE used Stealth Falcon malware to target journalists and dissidents
UAE authorities have used Stealth Falcon malware to attack nearly 30 targets, including activists, dissidents and a British journalist critical of the UAE's human rights record, according to circumstantial evidence found by Citizenlab, a cyberspace, human rights and global security watchdog. Previously, the UAE has relied on spyware provided by Italian company Hacking Team. 

The research group found out that UAE authorities used malware dubbed "Stealth Falcon" to attack almost 30 targets, including Rori Donaghy, a British journalist working for the Middle East Eye and a founder of the Emirates Center for Human Rights. Donaghy had previously been critical of UAE's human rights record.

A group we call #StealthFalcon has been trying to hack UAE dissidents since 2012. Read our @citizenlab report here: https://t.co/l0JDsv2Q2g — Bill Marczak (@billmarczak) May 30, 2016​

Stealth Falcon — rudimentary, but effective spyware — had made their way to journalists and activists by means of "fake personas." In other words, the state hackers sent their targets emails or Tweets with links to documents that purported to contain news, but were actually malware-laden. Citizenlab managed to link several of these "personas" to the UAE's government, although the evidence is — so far — only circumstantial.

The fake identities taken by the hackers varied, being fine-tuned depending on who they were supposed to target. For instance, Donaghy received various malicious tweets and messages from an "Andrew Wright" — a fake profile saying he was as a journalist.