In November 2021, Le Monde reported that Apple sent notifications to dozens of individuals who it suspected of having been targeted with spyware, including the former head of Armenia’s intelligence services and opposition MP Artur Vanetsyan.
A joint investigation between Access Now, Citizen Lab, Amnesty International, CyberHUB-AM and an independent researcher revealed in May 2023 that the phones of a dozen of Armenian officials, journalists and activists had been infected with Pegasus at various times between October 2020 and December 2022, the first documented evidence of the use of NSO Group’s spyware in an international war context. The team noted that “many other civil society individuals in Armenia also received Apple notifications,” but that they could not access their devices to analyze them. One month later, the International Press Institute condemned the use of Pegasus against journalists amidst the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.