QuaDream reportedly closing up shop

Israeli spyware developer QuaDream has been reported by Israeli tech news site CTech to be preparing to cease its operations following a report by Microsoft and Citizen Lab exposing the company's Reign spyware for iPhone devices that is believed to have been peddled to governments, SiliconAngle reports. QuaDream employees were noted by CTech to have been informed of layoffs and a hearing as the company shuts down in the coming days, with sources saying that the company has been facing challenges in recent months and that the recent report was the final straw. Ten countries were discovered by Citizen Lab to have malicious servers associated with the Reign spyware, which was found to leverage calendar invites to infect at least five devices belonging to political dissidents, journalists, and a nongovernmental organization. While Reign is thought to be targeting devices on iOS 14, Microsoft noted that the spyware has been updated by QuaDream to facilitate personal and technical data theft and additional compromise in iPhones running on newer software.