Cellebrite—Tools used by Serbian police to hack journalists and activists; suspended sales only after Amnesty report
Amnesty International documented Serbian authorities using Cellebrite tools alongside spyware to target journalists and activists. A student activist's phone was hacked using a Cellebrite zero-day exploit (CVE-2024-53104) affecting millions of Android devices. Cellebrite only suspended sales to Serbia's security services in February 2025 after the public Amnesty report—despite ongoing abuse documented since 2024.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Digital Safety for Vulnerable Users | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Press Freedom | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.443 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Tools used by Serbian police to hack journalists and activists; suspended sales only after Amnesty report
Amnesty International documented Serbian authorities using Cellebrite tools alongside spyware to target journalists and activists. A student activist's phone was hacked using a Cellebrite zero-day exploit (CVE-2024-53104) affecting millions of Android devices. Cellebrite only suspended sales to Serbia's security services in February 2025 after the public Amnesty report—despite ongoing abuse documented since 2024.