Meta details actions against eight spyware firms

Meta's Q4 2023 Adversarial Threat Report describes takedowns of account networks tied to eight commercial spyware firms (based in Italy, Spain and the UAE) that used fake Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp accounts for reconnaissance, phishing, social engineering, IP-logging and exploit testing. The report highlights the firms' use of complex corporate structures and AI-generated profile photos to obfuscate attribution, documents Meta's technical mitigations and account removals, and offers recommendations to governments, industry and financial backers to reduce the surveillance-for-hire threat.