The going price was $1m for a full exploit chain on iPhone a while ago, and I’m sure it’s gone up, but I’m also sure it is minuscule compared to the amount of money governments have.
Everyone should assume this is fact, and not imagine some secret spy world. If you ever become interesting enough to hack, you will be, and there is little recourse (currently)
Every major black hat group operates with the blessing of some state. It’s about more than just money. Actual exploits are probably traded for “favours” (e.g. votes in international bodies, collaboration on thorny dossiers, extraditions, etc.). The infiltration of electronic communication is a major aspect in determining a state’s level of “soft power” and - in a software-run world - its weight only increases.
Citation needed. As far as I know that's true. Yes, some groups cooperate with the state (true in Russia after the escalation of the war in Ukraine, for example). But that's certainly not true for everyone - not every group has uses as an APT unit, most are just common criminals.
I have 0 doubt that literally everybody is being scraped by 1 or more governments and/or companies.
Because if they can, why not?