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WASHINGTON — The federal government warned the public on Friday of the risks of commercial surveillance tools used to spy on journalists and political dissidents by infecting their phones with malware.

WarningIt followed the Biden administration’s actions in November, released by the National Center for Counterintelligence and Security. against NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance company, and other malware developers. When placed on a target’s phone, the software provides access to nearly all content on the device.

Management is trying to complicate the activities of surveillance companies to distract them from developing commercial spyware that can be abused. US officials are increasingly concerned that spyware could be planted on diplomats’ phones to learn state secrets, and that authoritarian governments are using it to monitor the work of journalists and political enemies.

The sneakiest spyware can be installed on a phone without tricking a user into clicking on a malicious link. These kinds of zero-click exploits are hard to defend against, but the security center said Friday. Outlined steps that can reduce risklike updating devices with the latest operating systems.

Last year, Apple discovered spyware It provided broad access to devices used by US diplomats in Uganda. The discovery was made public shortly after the Biden administration took action against companies that develop such software, including the NSO Group.

The NSO has long insisted that it pick and examine its customers, and turns away many spyware abusers. But tech firms and organizations defending political opponents have questioned its track record.

The United States found in November that NSO’s software and operations were contrary to American foreign policy interests. Commerce Department placed the firm on the “organizations” list,” which forbids him from buying important US technologies.

The Biden administration has also sued another Israeli firm, Candiru, as well as companies based in Russia and Singapore. They were not accused of hacking the phones of journalists or dissidents, but of providing the tools to customers.

The alert from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, which is part of the National Intelligence Agency, tasked with alerting the public to espionage threats, aims to improve Commerce Department action and raise awareness of the risks posed by spyware.

“Although ordinary American citizens are not the primary targets, we are seriously concerned that some governments are using commercial surveillance software in a way that poses a serious counterintelligence and security risk to US personnel and systems, as well as targeting journalists, human rights activists, or worldwide. others perceived as critics of the regime,” said center spokesman Dean Boyd.

Little can be done to stop the most advanced spyware from being placed on a phone. But less advanced software still relies on malicious links; This means that avoiding suspicious emails, attachments and messages can prevent some attacks.

Some of the hub’s recommendations, such as disabling options that allow a phone to track its location or turn off cameras, would be more difficult to follow as they interfere with functions that make smartphones useful.

But the other best practices included in the caveat are relatively easy. Recommendations included restarting mobile devices regularly to remove or damage certain types of malware that live in their memory rather than storage.

The Center also recommended maintaining physical control of devices and using trusted virtual private networks.

“While these steps reduce the risks, they do not eliminate them,” the center said. “It’s always safest to pretend the device has been compromised, so beware of sensitive content.”

Christoph Hebeisen, director of security intelligence research at anti-malware firm Lookout, said that although phones have modern operating software with good security, many people are unaware of the vulnerabilities.

“People don’t realize that their phones are actually computers that are always connected to the internet and can be hacked in the same way,” he said.

Lookout examined NSO-developed Pegasus spyware to find out how it exploits vulnerabilities to take over a phone’s full functionality.

People often use applications that send encrypted data over the internet; however, this information needs to be unencrypted on the phone and spyware like Pegasus can read it.

“You have the key to your device,” said Mr. Hebeisen. “And that’s where access to data becomes possible.”