{
	"id": "a454b9d9-f9f9-44ce-ba5f-b4adcceb45bb",
	"created_at": "2026-04-06T03:36:11.83457Z",
	"updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:21:28.880538Z",
	"deleted_at": null,
	"sha1_hash": "b5697ba266ef607b7962b8fd96583bf9888e7bb9",
	"title": "In first for Togo, RSF identifies spyware on phones of two Togolese journalists",
	"llm_title": "",
	"authors": "",
	"file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
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	"plain_text": "In first for Togo, RSF identifies spyware on phones of two Togolese\r\njournalists\r\nPublished: 2024-01-23 · Archived: 2026-04-06 03:31:41 UTC\r\nIt was serial espionage. Evidence of at least 23 spyware intrusions between 1 February and 10 July 2021 were\r\nidentified on one of the phones used by Loïc Lawson, the publisher of Flambeau des Démocrates, a leading\r\nindependent weekly in Togo. Freelance journalist Anani Sossou was the target of a similar attack on his phone a\r\nfew months later, on 25 October 2021.\r\nAfter several months of investigation, this was the conclusion of the technical analyses conducted by Digital\r\nSecurity Lab, an RSF forensic service for journalists that detects digital attacks on their phones. \r\nThe intrusions into the phones of these Togolese journalists were carried out by means of Pegasus, one of the\r\nworld’s most powerful and effective spywares. It is sold by NSO Group, an Israeli company of which the Togolese\r\ngovernment was a proven client at the time. The findings of RSF’s technical analyses (see file attached) were\r\nindependently confirmed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab, which has identified many cases of Pegasus\r\nsurveillance around the world and is regarded as a leading authority in this field.\r\n“It was while investigating the circumstances of the completely arbitrary arrest of these journalists and the\r\ncharges brought against them that we discovered that they had in fact been in the crosshairs of the Togolese\r\nauthorities for a long time, as shown by the industrial-scale cyber-espionage to which Loïc Lawson was subjected\r\nin 2021. Until the Pegasus scandal broke in July of that year and implicated Togo, the intrusions on his phone\r\noccurred with an astonishing frequency, up to several times a week for six months, giving the perpetrators access\r\nto all of this journalist's data. These are the first proven cases of journalists being targeted by spyware in Togo. It\r\nis now up to the justice system to establish the responsibility of the Togolese authorities and NSO Group, the\r\ncompany that provided them with this spyware.\r\nArnaud Froger\r\nhead of RSF's investigation desk\r\n“By mobilising its network of cyber defenders, engineers and technicians, RSF has reinforced its capacity to\r\nconduct digital forensics investigations. This makes a big difference. Today, we can shed light on the use of these\r\nmethods to target journalists and we can send a strong signal to spyware vendors and to their clients.\r\nNicolas Diaz\r\nhead of digital security and operations at RSF\r\nAfter RSF told Lawson he had been subjected to close cyber-surveillance and whereas he was still in shock from\r\nhis recent detention, he said he was “very concerned about the extent of the information to which those\r\nresponsible for this operation may have had access.” They may have been able to identify some of his sources, he\r\nsaid. \r\nhttps://rsf.org/en/first-togo-rsf-identifies-spyware-phones-two-togolese-journalists\r\nPage 1 of 2\n\nTogolese communication minister and government spokesman Yawa Kouigan did not respond to RSF’s request for\r\nan explanation of the surveillance operation targeting journalists and the use of such methods in Togo.\r\nJournalists often targeted by Togo’s authorities\r\nThree other Togolese journalists, Ferdinand Ayité, Luc Abaki and Carlos Ketohou, were on the list of 50,000\r\npotential Pegasus targets that were identified by an international consortium’s  investigation in 2021. But it was\r\nnot possible at the time to conduct a technical analysis of their phones to establish whether they had indeed been\r\ncompromised. In the wake of this investigation, RSF filed several complaints in France concerning 25 journalists\r\nin ten countries and is now registered as an interested party in the judicial investigation initiated in France.\r\nThe Togolese authorities often target critical journalists and media. Ayité, who is the publisher of the news website\r\nL'Alternative, and Isidore Kouwonou, its editor, were forced to flee the country in March 2023 after being\r\narrested and subjected to intimidation. They were sentenced in absentia to three years in prison on charges of\r\n“contempt of authority” and “spreading mendacious comments on social media” as a result of complaints by two\r\ngovernment ministers.\r\nSource: https://rsf.org/en/first-togo-rsf-identifies-spyware-phones-two-togolese-journalists\r\nhttps://rsf.org/en/first-togo-rsf-identifies-spyware-phones-two-togolese-journalists\r\nPage 2 of 2",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"ETDA"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://rsf.org/en/first-togo-rsf-identifies-spyware-phones-two-togolese-journalists"
	],
	"report_names": [
		"first-togo-rsf-identifies-spyware-phones-two-togolese-journalists"
	],
	"threat_actors": [],
	"ts_created_at": 1775446571,
	"ts_updated_at": 1775791288,
	"ts_creation_date": 0,
	"ts_modification_date": 0,
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