June 20, 2021: Human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and others have been targeted by Authoritarian Governments using NSO Group's hacking software called Pegasus. Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones.
The latest advances in NSO’s technology enable it to penetrate phones with “zero-click” attacks, meaning a user does not even need to click on a malicious link for their phone to be infected. A leaked list of 50,000 NGO Group client targets reveals that popular targets are business executives, religious figures, academics, NGO employees, union officials and government officials, including cabinet ministers, presidents and prime ministers. The numbers of 180 reporters, editors, and executives from major sources including the Financial Times, CNN, The New York Times, France 24, the Economist, Associated Press and Reuters have been identified. So far, the list of users of the Pegasus App include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Many more users of the Pegasus app are expected to be discovered in the days and weeks ahead.
Given the ease with which this can app be installed on a persons smart phone and given its capabilities one must wonder how many politicians, educators, corporate executives and other important public representatives have been compromised because of the availability of Pegasus application.
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