Pegasus Report

By Sanjay Ram

Pegasus Report

A report that wasn’t from a single journalist or a single company a total of 17 media companies 80 journalists across the world with different languages collaborated with this report. We could estimate how big this issue is! There have been many malware attacks in the past in different ways such as sending it through opening links or messages, but spyware like Pegasus is a zero-click attack, where the user cannot escape from this virus if it’s injected into the smartphone. 

Pegasus is a Greek mythological creature, A horse that has wings. In Greek mythology, it’s believed that Pegasus helped defeat evil and has been a symbol of inspiration. Pegasus is believed to have been immortal such a name is given to spyware is because of the traits it has. Pegasus spyware made headlines in July 2021 where approximately 50 k phone numbers worldwide were suspected to have been hacked which mainly consisted of politicians, journalists, activists, bureaucrats, and even tainted the judiciary where smartphones of Judges were tapped!

NSO

NSO was the company that created this spyware in 2016 where the intention was to make this software for the Government which was mainly to keep surveillance for any dangerous suspects, notably El Chappo a drug lord who was caught in Mexico by using this spyware. NSO has been in connection with the Government organizations of the countries where this spyware was bought and is answerable to them. The NSO claims that they just provide these Spywares to Government organizations who contact the Israeli ministry of defense and not to any private entities. These services are quite costly approximately 4 crore rupees for a single smartphone and 5 crores for installing it on 10 smartphones.

Pegasus Scandal

In July 2021, many news media came together to investigate the report and managed to get 50 k phone numbers that have been suspected of being a victim of the virus or a threat for the potential future that they can get hacked. A French-based Ngo Forbidden story with Amnesty International for technical support started this investigation where they went to different popular news media across the world such as The Guardian and Washington Post. They concluded this report by confirming that 1000 people have been identified to be a victim of Pegasus spyware. So what does Pegasus spyware does? All the data available in the smartphone gets hacked like Messages, Photos, Videos, Call history, Contacts and the spyware can also access Location, Microphone, and Camera. This spyware cannot be removed from the smartphone and there is no way to escape from it as it’s updated until Android 11 and IOS 14.6.

Countries, where this spyware was found to be, were the countries that have been in the lowest democratic index who are either governed by a dictator or a King, surprisingly the only democratic country found in the list was India.

Pegasus in India

Pegasus was suspected to have been bought by the government between 2017-2019 where 300 people have been identified that have been attacked. The list includes opposition leaders, Journalists, Activists, and shockingly a sitting judge in the supreme court! NSO has listed 10 countries which are UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Togo, Rwanda, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Hungary, and India where this spyware was sold. Though there isn’t any official confirmation given by the government regarding their deal with the NSO, Government denied any connection with the Pegasus report. Media during this tried to defame Amnesty about 50 k phones were tapped but there isn’t any proper proof that it was, as many people refused to give their phones in laboratories to test but in response to this Amnesty told that these phones are either infected or could be potentially in the future. Even after a month, there hasn’t been any investigation and this hasn’t been treated like a scandal and has been seen more of a controversy like any acquisition towards the government. First time all the 3 pillars of democracy are falling apart.

Conclusion

This news made headlines all over the world even France president Emmanuel macron changed his mobile when he found that his name was on the list, many countries have started to investigate Pegasus except India. In the past we have been spied on, phones have been tapped but with proper permission and a reason for a specific amount of time but Pegasus is a surveillance device that constantly tracks your moments, the hacker just needs your mobile number and the phone gets tapped. In this technological world, Pegasus is a nuclear weapon that can be used to silence and suppress people in the name of national security so it becomes the responsibility for the country to stop making such kinds of spyware and to prevent making them, companies like NSO are a threat to the world as they are responsible for selling democracy in the name of spyware.