Report: Iran devising phone apps for ‘mass surveillance’ of dissidents

Iran’s intelligence services have “significantly accelerated” spying on their own citizens in the wake of anti-regime protests that rocked the nation, according to an extensive investigation released Thursday by a leading Iranian exile dissident group.

The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, relying on what it says include sources inside the government, contends the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security are engaging in “mass surveillance” of protesters and dissidents by employing a web of state-produced mobile phone apps.

Just days after U.S. intelligence warned in its annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” of increased cyberthreats emanating from Iran, the NCRI report said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has so successfully deployed its social media spyware that millions of users outside Iran could be exposed to it.