Apple Inc and Android smartphones were hacked in Italy and Kazakhstan by an Italian company it used its hacking tools to spy, as per Google in a report on Thursday.

HIGHLIGHTS: 
Italian spyware hacked Apple Inc and Android smartphones 
Milan-based RCS Lab has been identified as the spyware company
It is indicated that spyware had ties with the government

The company has been identified as the Milan-based RCS Lab whose website has claimed the European law enforcement agencies as their clients. As per the report, the company has developed advanced tools to spy on private messages and contacts of the targeted devices.

Mountain View, a tech giant headquartered in California, had said that it would take some steps to protect the Android operating system and had alerted all its users about the spyware. An Apple spokesperson told Reuters that the company had revoked all known accounts and certificates which was involved in the hacking campaign.

In a conversation with Reuters, RCS Lab has said that its products and services comply with European rules and could help law enforcement agencies to investigate such crimes. RCS Lab has claimed that its personnel is not exposed, and they never participate in any activities conducted by the relevant customers and later condemn any abuse of its products.

Also Read: Ukrainian Officials' Phones hacked amid Russian Invasion Says Cybersecurity Expert.

On its website RCS Lab has described itself as a maker of 'lawful interception' technologies and services, including voice and data collection with tracking systems. It handles 10,000 intercepted targets daily in Europe alone, per its website.

European and American regulators have been working hard on the potential new rules over the sale and import of spyware.

'These vendors have been enabling the proliferation of dangerous hacking tools and then arming governments that would not be able to develop these capabilities in-house,' Google said.

The Google researchers have also discovered that RCS Lab had previously collaborated with the controversial, defunct Italian spy firm Hacking Team, which had similarly created the surveillance software for foreign governments to tap into phones and computers.

Billy Leonard, a senior researcher at Google, said that in some cases the hackers using RCS spyware had worked with the target's internet service provider, which indicated that they had ties with the government.

The global industry has been making spyware for governments that is growing in recent years. More and more companies have been accused of aiding governments in some cases. They have used such tools to crack down on human rights and civil rights.

Global outrage was noticed against the industry when Israeli surveillance firm NSO's Pegasus spyware was found earlier to be used by several governments to spy on journalists, activists, and dissidents.

However, the tools of RCS Lab may not be as stealthy as Pegasus, but it can still read out the messages and view passwords, according to Bill Marczak, a security researcher with digital watchdog Citizen Lab.