Android spyware disguised as legitimate messaging apps targets UAE victims, researchers reveal

ESET researchers uncovered two Android spyware campaigns (ProSpy and ToSpy) posing as Signal and an enhanced ToTok app, targeting users in the United Arab Emirates via phishing and fake app stores. The malicious apps require manual installation, request wide-ranging permissions, and can exfiltrate contacts, messages, files, audio, video and device metadata, suggesting a regionally focused espionage operation against privacy-conscious users.