Governments are expanding their digital reach in ways unimaginable just a decade ago. A growing wave of AI-powered surveillance, biometric data collection, and commercial spyware is reshaping how states monitor citizens and visitors.

The scale of this shift is drawing urgent attention from security professionals and human rights organizations worldwide.

A new analysis covering 193 countries finds that government digital surveillance poses high or very high risk in 31 nations.

State actors exploit telecommunications infrastructure, deploy commercial spyware, and use AI-driven tools to track foreign nationals with little to no legal accountability. An additional 55 medium-risk countries use surveillance against political opponents, journalists, and activists.

Analysts at Recorded Future said in a report shared with Cyber Security News (CSN) that five broad categories of surveillance capabilities have been identified: network interception, endpoint compromise, platform-level access, public space surveillance, and data aggregation.

The Insikt Group stressed that the risk of abuse is significantly higher in countries where independent oversight is weak or absent.

Foreign nationals and business travelers face serious exposure in high-risk jurisdictions.

Risks include theft of sensitive corporate data, intellectual property loss, reputational damage, and in some cases physical detention driven by digitally gathered intelligence.

Insikt Group found that travelers who fail to prepare before entering certain countries place both themselves and their organizations at real risk.

The convergence of commercial spyware, AI tools, and growing biometric databases is accelerating the threat.

In April 2026, the United Kingdom assessed that roughly 100 countries had procured commercial spyware, signaling a steep drop in barriers to state-level intrusion. Without stronger oversight globally, individuals and organizations remain increasingly exposed.

AI-Powered Public Surveillance and Biometric Data Collection

AI-powered public surveillance has become central to government monitoring in authoritarian states.

Safe City projects, many built using hardware from Chinese technology firms, incorporate facial recognition and license plate readers across cities in Africa, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Following protests in Turkey in March 2025, authorities used AI facial recognition to identify and detain demonstrators the morning after rallies.

A model of State Digital Surveillance Capabilities (Source - Recordedfuture) — A model of State Digital Surveillance Capabilities (Source – Recordedfuture)

Biometric databases represent a deeply intrusive layer of this architecture. Russia’s Unified Biometric System requires foreigners to submit biometric data to a state repository when obtaining mobile services, and the government is building a digital profile drawing from at least 14 agencies.

Myanmar’s military has merged SIM records, airport data, CCTV footage, and identity files into a unified database to eliminate anonymity.

Predictive policing tools add another dimension to the threat. South Korea’s Dejaview system uses historical crime data with real-time CCTV analysis to flag potential criminal behavior.

Digital rights groups warn such tools violate necessity and proportionality and carry serious bias risks against minority communities.

Commercial Spyware and Endpoint Surveillance

Governments are also deploying endpoint tools that directly compromise individual devices. From 2024 to 2026, Insikt Group found evidence that at least 16 countries deployed Predator or Candiru spyware against journalists and civil society members.

In February 2026, Amnesty International confirmed Predator targeted an Angolan journalist, the first forensically verified case against Angolan civil society.

Custom state-built malware is harder to detect. Leaked data from Chinese firm Knownsec revealed GhostX, a Windows remote access trojan enabling screen monitoring, keystroke logging, and password extraction.

Belarus’s KGB was linked to ResidentBat, active since at least 2021, used to pull call logs and stored files from detained activists.

Digital forensics tools are also being misused. Kazakh authorities used Cellebrite’s extraction system to unlock an activist’s phone in early 2026, while Serbian police used similar tools to install NoviSpy spyware on detainees during interrogations.

These cases show how legitimate forensic tools become instruments of repression when oversight is absent.

To reduce exposure, Insikt Group recommends travelers to very high-risk countries use only sterile devices in a Faraday bag. For high-risk destinations, a VPN, pre-departure firmware patches, and end-to-end encrypted apps are essential.

In medium-risk areas, keeping apps updated, avoiding politically sensitive content, and enabling strict social media privacy settings provide a solid protective baseline.

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