The Washinton Post has reported that some iPhones may have been targeted with Pegasus spyware, but yours is likely OK. If you’re paranoid, however, there’s a way to check.<\/b>
\nIf you\u2019re concerned about recent reports of the Pegasus spyware reportedly installed by the Israeli NSO Group to hack journalists and world leaders, there\u2019s a tool to check if it\u2019s hidden on your iPhone. But you probably have nothing to worry about. According to a report in the Washington Post in conjunction with nonprofit groups Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International and several others, military-grade spyware developed by an Israeli firm was used to hack some 40 smartphones \u201cbelonging to journalists, human rights activists, business executives and two women close to murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.\u201d The phones appeared on a list of more than 50,000 numbers, according to the Post. NSO has denied the allegations. There\u2019s a good chance your iPhone isn\u2019t on that list. While the legality of the operation may be in question, reports say the NSO seemingly targeted high-level politicians, government officials, and journalists in the operation and were only successful less than half the time. For example, Amnesty International examined 67 phones and found that \u201c23 were successfully infected and 14 showed signs of attempted penetration.\u201d Of those, nearly all were iPhones, according to the investigation. But if you\u2019re concerned, there\u2019s a way to test whether your iPhone has been targeted. It\u2019s not an easy test, mind you, but if you\u2019re using a Mac or Linux PC and have backed up your iPhone using it, the Mobile Verification Toolkit will be able to detect whether your phone has the Pegasus spyware installed on it. The tool, which TechCrunch tested, works using the macOS Terminal app and searches your latest iPhone backup on your Mac, \u201cis not a refined and polished user experience and requires some basic knowledge of how to navigate the terminal.\u201d You\u2019ll need to install libusb as well as Python 3 using Homebrew. (You can learn more about the installation here.) TechCrunch says the check only takes \u201cabout a minute or two to run\u201d once it\u2019s been set up. Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.<\/p>\n