An international consortium of investigative journalists between Amnesty International and the French media group Forbidden Stories found that from 2016 until today, the monitoring software under the name of Pegasus of the Israeli company NSO Group was used extensively worldwide tracking at least 50,000 phone numbers, including emails, photos, videos etc.
The surveillance targets journalists-investigators, activists, business executives, politicians of the official opposition of the countries that used Pegasus. The total number of countries that have used this malicious software is more than fifty.
by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis
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The manufacturer NSO Group presents the Pegasus software as the most specialized in surveillance because it exploits the security gaps in the communication applications, in order to intercept the user data without the user taking any action and without the user realizing his presence and given that once installed on the device has full access to all phone data.
The watch list includes the President of France, the President of South Africa, the President of Iraq, the Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, and Morocco respectively.
It is alleged that the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey in 2008, was the target of Pegasus surveillance. In addition, it is speculated that the murder of Mexican freelance investigative journalist Cicilio Pineda Birto in March 2017 is based on this surveillance.
There are at least fifty “accused” countries that have used this software, including Morocco (although it denies this through its Embassy in Paris). Mexico acquired the software in 2011 and monitored more than 14,000 phones. Dubai, India, Rwanda, and Saudi Arabia appear in the list of countries that have used Pegasus.
Information security experts believe that this spyware is used for targeted surveillance. It does not infect random devices, but only smartphones that belong to specific individuals whose activities interest those who control the software.
Many software programs operate in a “gray” monitoring zone and are presented as parental controls or other types of legitimate applications.
How to find out if your smartphone data has been compromised by Pegasus
Amnesty International has developed a utility that allows Pegasus to be recognized. This program is called MVT (Mobile Verification ToolKit) (and its source code is available on GitHub. MVT is compatible with Android and iOS.
The computer must have a Linux or macOS operating system. The test is recommended only by users with technological knowledge. Mobile files are transferred to the computer and MVT scans transfer logs and then notifies them if they are infected.
If you want to find out if your mobile phone has been infected easily and quickly you can visit the following Amnesty International website with MVT.
The path to justice and the concerns that arise
Journalistic revelations have taken the path of Justice. The French government has decided to investigate whether the current President of France was being monitored by the software. French citizens who have been targeted by the surveillance will seek legal redress for the case and colossal damages will be sought from both the users and the makers of the specific software.
US and EU national security officials are now openly skeptical of the role of the NSO Group and Pegasus software. They believe that this company is a “showcase” of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
Certainly, in a free global market there can be no restrictions on the sales and exports of any software even Pegasus. However, when software is used against human life and freedom of the press, there should be international sanctions and compensation against both users and manufacturers, and manufacturers should demand sanctions and compensation from users when their product is used against human life.
