Pegasus Spyware: Phones of Indian politicians, journalists allegedly hacked, claims report

Spyware Pegasus, was developed by the Israel-based cyber intelligence and security organisation known as NSO Group. The spyware reckoned to have been accessable at least since 2016, is said to be known by other names as well, namely Q Suite and Trident.

The Spyware, which my have been used to carry out surveillance on around 300 Indians, which includes two serving Cabinet ministers in the central government, three opposition leaders, a constitutional authority, officials in the government, scientists and around 40 journalist, as per french media nonprofit, Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International.

The list further contained activist, businessmen and those from the legal profession. A number registered in the name of a sitting Supreme Court judge was also found on the database, eventhough it was uncertain if the judge was still making use of it for Whatsapp and other messaging serviceses, The Wire reported on Sunday.

The leaked database of around 50,000 munbers worldwide has the names of many Indian journalists. Names of other suspected targets will be made known later in the days ahead.

While the existence of a number on the list points to a surveillance target, if the hacking bid was successful and the phone was infected by the Pegasus or not needs to be looked into by digital forensic scrutiny. According to reports, forensic tests established the targeting of 37 phones, out of which 9-10 iphones and one Android were from India.

The leaked data was retrieved by Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International and shared with The Guardian, The Washington Post, Le Monde, The Wire, among others, as part of a collaborative probe known as the ‘Pegasus Project’.

India was one of the ten nations where the numbers were concentrated with Mexco on top of the pile with 15,000 numbers. A huge amount of the numbers was also from West Asian nations like UAE, Bahrain and Saudi, with Pakistan, France and Hungary being the additional important nations on the listing.

This is the second instant that Pegasus Spyware has been associated with phone survellance. Earlier in 2019 chatting app Whatsapp users in ndia iincluding journalists and activists were told that their phone had been contravened.

Since Sunday there has been talks over the names and it is anticipated to give rise new political contention when Parliament meets for the monsoon session. The claims of surveillance is set to overshadow the monsoon session which starts on 19th July 2021.

Worldwide, around 1,000 individuals across 50 nations have been identified from the list, According to the Washington Post, murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s wife phone was picked out using Pegasus, while his fiance’s phone was attacked by the spyware a couple of days following his demise.

Many Arab royal family members, not less than 65 business executives, 85 activists, 189 journalist and over 600 political figures and government officials –which included cabinet minister, diplomats and Army and security forces officers –are suspected to have been attacked. Many head of state and the prime minister also featured on the list. As per the Waashington Post.

Reports claim, NSO describes its customers as 60 intelligence, military and law enforcement organizations in 40 nations

Also Read: Karnataka: Viral audio clip on leadership change fake; BJP calls it fake