It was established that the NSO group clients are the government agencies of around 45 countries, who are using it to hack into the Smartphones of the Human Rights Activists, Eminent Journalists and Politicians for their benefit instead of their intended purpose which is to control and reduce criminal activities and terrorism.
They formed a Consortium and revealed some dark sides of the Autocratic Governments. They were able to link their findings with the Killings of some key Journalists like Jamal Khashoggi and Cecilio Pineda Birto. In India, it is alleged that counter-terrorism spyware was used against Eminent Journalists, Politicians and Activists.
What is Pegasus Spyware?
Pegasus Spying Software or Spyware is a malware which once installed on the Smartphone can harvest loads of data for the attacker. It is the flagship spyware of the NSO Group firm. Ideally intended to be used against criminals and terrorists.
It is capable of Zero-Click hacks.
What is NSO Group?
NSO Group Technologies is an Israel based Surveillance company with their Flagship product being the Pegasus Spyware which is used for the remote surveillance of Smartphones. As per Israel's Defence Ministry, all the deals of the company must be approved by them.
The NSO Group sells the Pegasus Spyware only to the vetted government bodies like the Military, the Intelligence and Law Enforcement Agencies.
Even though NSO has an end-user agreement to avoid the abuse of the Spyware, the firm has no control over the systems sold and the data of the client's targets.
What is The Pegasus Project?
It represents the work of The Reporting Consortium which decided to dig deep into the application of this Spying Software. A Consortium of 17 major Media houses of the world led by the Paris based Forbidden Stories. Amnesty International Provided Forensic support to the Project. The list of numbers was shared with the 17 major media partners of the world which included The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde and several others. Thus, about 80 Journalists joined the effort.
Key Findings-
The Findings were astonishing, according to the consortium the numbers selected for surveillance before Snooping actually was carried out, spanned across 45 countries on 4 continents. Several thousand numbers were being targeted in Mexico, Europe and few North African countries.
The Consortiums Analysis of the Leaked Data Identified at least 10 governments believed to be the NSO clients, used the Pegasus Spyware for unauthorised Surveillance. They are Kazakhstan, Morocco, Hungry, Mexico, India, Bahrain, UAE, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.
These NSO Clients were targeting the majority of Human rights Activists, Journalists, Politicians, Business Executives and some prominent personalities.
The Forensic analysis by Amnesty International of few phones whose numbers are listed showed certain traces of the Pegasus Spyware on them.
The Snooping by Pegasus is being linked to several killings that happened in past few years. Although NSO has denied any involvement of software in those killings.
Big hype of security by the iPhone is also in question as several iPhone users are also on the alleged attacker's list. Still, iPhone is judged to be slightly better than the other operating system Phones in terms of security.
The Consortium revealed the working of the Pegasus Spyware. Let's have a look at how it works-
Initially, the Pegasus Spyware could infect (By Getting Installed) the targeted phones via the vulnerabilities in the common apps or by tricking the target into clicking on the Malicious link. The latest upgrades by the NSO group did not even need a click from the Smartphone user to get installed. (Zero-Click Hacks)
Once Installed the attacker can access any data or perform tasks that a normal Smartphone user does on his phone like accessing Watsapp Chats, Photos & Videos, Emails, Contacts, Calendar, even start call recordings, activating Camera and microphone, etc.
-> Sounds pretty horrifying but the question arises why such Software was required in the first place.
If you see its origin, which is in Israel a country which is extremely small and surrounded by enemies from three sides. It can be argued that they need advancement in their security and cyber Intelligence to avert any adverse attacks.
Conclusion- Going through the Mind-boggling findings of the Pegasus Project, it is certain that we are entering that phase of advancement that privacy will certainly be attacked by those who wish to attack freedom and individual liberty due to the easy availability and accessibility of such Malware.
There is a serious need for International law to regulate the export of such Softwares and its governance outreach. The Company exporting should have the obligatory job to monitor its client for any potential abuse or application of it other than intended.
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