The Citizen Lab was a founding partner of the
OpenNet Initiative (2002–2013) and the
Information Warfare Monitor (2002–2012) projects. The organization also developed the original design of the
Psiphon censorship circumvention software, which was spun out of the Lab into a private Canadian corporation (Psiphon Inc.) in 2003 In a 2009 report "Tracking
GhostNet", researchers uncovered a suspected
cyber espionage network of over 1,295 infected hosts in 103 countries between 2007 and 2009, a high percentage of which were high-value targets, including
ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organizations, news media, and NGOs. The study was one of the first public reports to reveal a cyber espionage network that targeted
civil society and government systems internationally. In
Shadows in the Cloud (2010), researchers documented a complex ecosystem of cyber espionage that systematically compromised government, business, academic, and other computer network systems in
India, the offices of the
Dalai Lama, the
United Nations, and several other countries. In
Million Dollar Dissident, published in August 2016, researchers discovered that
Ahmed Mansoor, one of the
UAE Five, a human rights defender in the United Arab Emirates, was targeted with
Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli cyber espionage firm
NSO Group. Prior to the releases of the report, researchers contacted Apple who released a security update that patched the vulnerabilities exploited by the spyware operators. Mansoor was imprisoned one year later and as of 2021, is still in jail. Researchers reported in October 2018, that NSO Group surveillance software was used to spy on the "inner circle" of
Jamal Khashoggi just before his murder, "are being targeted in turn by international undercover operatives." A Citizen Lab October report revealed that NSO's "
signature spy software" which had been placed on the iPhone of Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, one of Khashoggi's confidantes, months before. Abdulaziz said that Saudi Arabia spies used the hacking software to reveal Khashoggi's "private criticisms of the Saudi royal family". He said this "played a major role" in his death. According to a January 24, 2019
AP News report, Citizen Lab researchers were "being targeted" by "international undercover operatives" for its work on
NSO Group. In January 2019, Citizen Lab invited the
Associated Press to help reveal an undercover spy operation targeting reporters at Citizen Lab carried out by the firm
Black Cube.
Ronan Farrow added to this reporting through interviews with a source of his who was involved in that espionage incident, among others. In March 2019,
The New York Times reported that Citizen Lab had been a target of the UAE contractor
DarkMatter. A major international investigation conducted from 2020 to 2022 into the use of
Pegasus spyware on journalists, politicians and human rights activists around the world relied on Citizen Lab and
Amnesty International's Security Lab for technical support. In 2021, Citizen Lab along with Amnesty International's Security Lab analysed
Front Line Defenders' report on the hacking of devices of six Palestinian
human rights defenders (two were dual nationals; one French, one American) working for civil society organisations based in the
West Bank. Four of the hacked devices used Israeli
SIM cards (which NSO Group claimed was not allowed). In 2023, Citizen Lab found evidence of
NSO Group's hacking tool
Pegasus in a war setting for the first time as well as in the device of a lead investigator of a Mexican human rights investigation. In 2025, Citizen Lab found evidence of three prominent European
investigative journalists being targeted with military-grade spyware on their devices. After the report by Citizen Lab, the Italian government and the spyware vendor,
Paragon Solutions, said that they had terminated their relationship. == Awards ==