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Prominent Angolan Journalist Targeted with Predator Spyware
Amnesty International linked forensic evidence and infection servers to Intellexa’s Predator spyware used against Angolan journalist Teixeira Cândido in 2024.
- Forensic analysis found that Amnesty International's Security Lab confirmed Predator was installed and active on Teixeira Cândido's phone on 4 May 2024.
- From April to June 2024, Teixeira Cândido received WhatsApp messages with multiple malicious links; the unknown attacker posed as Angolan students and sent the first Predator link on 3 May 2024.
- Forensic traces tied the intrusion to Intellexa's infrastructure by linking infection domains and servers to Predator spyware, which impersonated iOS system processes to stay hidden.
- Amnesty cautioned that it could not conclusively identify the specific government customer behind the Predator attack, but said the targeting is likely part of a broader spyware campaign that chills journalism.
- Amnesty and partner outlets revealed leaks in December 2025, and Amnesty International sent Intellexa a letter on 27 January 2026 with no reply while Predator activity persisted.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Shadows of Surveillance: A Prominent Journalist Targeted
Teixeira Candido's phone was infected by spyware from Intellexa, as reported by Amnesty International. The spyware, named Predator, accessed his phone's contents after he interacted with a deceptive WhatsApp message. The event highlights Intellexa's controversial spyware history, despite U.S. government actions against its associates.
‘I literally felt naked’: Angolan journalist Teixeira Cândido targeted with Predator spyware
Angolan journalist and lawyer Teixeira Cândido wants to know who targeted him with spyware, and he wants justice. “First and foremost, we must seek to find out who the entities are that have acquired these spyware tools,” Cândido told CPJ, as findings published by Amnesty International’s Security Lab show that a malicious link sent in a WhatsApp message infected his phone with Predator spyware. The commercially available spyware can provide acce…
Angola: Prominent journalist hacked with Predator spyware
A new Amnesty International investigation has established that Predator spyware was used in 2024 to target Teixeira Cândido, a prominent Angolan journalist, press freedom activist, jurist and former Secretary General of the Syndicate of Angolan Journalists (SJA). Predator is a highly invasive mobile phone spyware, developed and sold by Intellexa – a mercenary spyware company – for use by governments in surveillance operations. This is the first…
Intellexa's Predator spyware used to hack iPhone of journalist in Angola, research says
Amnesty International says it found evidence that a government customer of Intellexa, a sanctioned surveillance vendor, used its Predator spyware against a prominent journalist in Angola.
Fake escort services to greetings cards: Intellexa spyware targets journalists in Angola
An investigation reveals that the Israeli-owned Intellexa spyware was used to hack the head of Angola's journalists union as he was fighting the regime's surveillance of reporters. Fake news sites mimicking Angolan media were part of a broader campaign, Amnesty finds
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