By Uyghur Times StaffApril 28, 2025
Unknown hackers targeted leaders of the exiled Uyghur community with Windows spyware last month, according to a report published Monday by Citizen Lab, a digital rights research group at the University of Toronto.
The espionage campaign focused on members of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), an organization representing the Uyghur people, who have long faced persecution by the Chinese government. Google alerted some WUC members to the hacking attempt in mid-March, leading them to contact journalists and Citizen Lab.
Citizen Lab found that the attackers sent phishing emails impersonating a trusted contact, linking to a malicious file disguised as a Uyghur language text editor. While the campaign did not involve zero-day exploits or commercial spyware, Citizen Lab noted that “the delivery of the malware showed a high level of social engineering, revealing the attackers’ deep understanding of the target community.”
Full report: Citizen Lab
