Spyware produce by the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group has been abused by governments to target dissenting journalists, activists, lawyers and more, an investigation by human rights groups and media organizations has found.
Spyware produce by the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group has been abused by governments to target dissenting journalists, activists, lawyers and more, an investigation by human rights groups and media organizations has found. The Pegasus spyware was produced with the intention of targeting terrorists and other criminals, but an investigation into a huge data leak shows that it has also be misused by authoritarian governments to gather text message, photos, call logs and more from iPhones and Android handsets. The malware can also be used to acti8vate the microphone of a targeted device to eavesdrop on conversations. Targets includes not only journalists and activists, but also key business figures, members of government, presidents and prime ministers. Among those involved in the investigation are the Guardian, the Washington Post and Amnesty International. The investigation was started following the leak of around 50,000 phone numbers belonging to people believed to be of interest to client of NSO Group.
