PEGASUS - An android zero-click

PEGASUS - An android zero-click

Israeli spyware to tap the mobile phones of people across the globe.

Pegasus is spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that can be covertly installed on mobile phones (and other devices) running most versions of Android and iOS.  

Pegasus is able to exploit all iOS versions up to 14.6, through a zero-click iMessage exploit.

 

The spyware is named after Pegasus, the winged white horse of Greek mythology.

Pegasus is a Trojan horse computer virus that can be sent "flying through the air" to infect cell phones.

Pegasus was discovered in August, 2016

As of 2022, Pegasus was capable of  reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, location tracking,  accessing the target device's microphone and camera, and harvesting information from apps. 

News of the spyware caused significant media coverage. It was called the "most sophisticated" smartphone attack ever, and was the first time that a malicious remote exploit used jailbreaking to gain unrestricted access to an iPhone.

NSO Group sold Pegasus for hundreds of millions of US dollars to the Gulf countries for surveillance of anti-regime activists, journalists, and political leaders from rival nations, with encouragement and mediation by the Israeli government. Since July 2021, an international investigation Project Pegasus, along with an in-depth analysis by human rights group Amnesty International, reported that Pegasus was still being widely used against high-profile targets.

India reportedly used Pegasus to spy the routines of Imran Khan, the Pakistan Prime Minister.

NSO Group developed its first iteration of Pegasus spyware in 2011. The company states that it provides "authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime." NSO Group has published sections of contracts which require customers to use its products only for criminal and national security investigations and has stated that it has an industry-leading approach to human rights.

Pegasus can gather information from apps including but not limited to communications apps iMessage, Gmail, Viber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype.

In late 2019, Facebook initiated a suit against NSO, claiming that Pegasus had been used to intercept the WhatsApp communications of a number of activists, journalists, and bureaucrats in India, leading to accusations that the Indian government was involved. 17 individuals including human rights activists, scholars, and journalists confirmed to an Indian publication that they have been targeted.

Assassination of Jamal Ahmed Khashoggi  :

Pegasus was used by Saudi Arabia to spy on Jamal Khashoggi, who was later killed in Instanbul,Turkey  on 2nd October, 2018 and his body was dismembered.

Jamal Ahmed Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian journalist, dissident, author, columnist for the Washington Post and a General Manager and Editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel.  He was assassinated by Agents of Saudi Arabia Government allegedly at the behest of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

 

In October 2018, Citizen Lab reported on the use of NSO software to spy on the inner circle of Jamal Khashoggi  just before his murder. Citizen Lab's October report stated with high confidence that NSO's Pegasus had been placed on the iPhone of Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, one of Khashoggi's confidantes, months before.  Abdulaziz stated that the software revealed Khashoggi's "private criticisms of the Saudi royal family," which according to Abdulaziz "played a major role" in Khashoggi's murder.

In December 2018, a New York Times investigation concluded that Pegasus software played a role in the Khashoggi's murder, with a friend of Khashoggi stating in a filing that Saudi authorities had used the Israeli-made software to spy on the dissident. NSO CEO Shalev Hulio stated that the company had not been involved in the "terrible murder", but declined to comment on reports that he had personally traveled to the Saudi capital Riyadh for a $55 million Pegasus sale.

 

Pegasus is an expensive high cost Spyware. 

FBI Connection  :

The FBI has confirmed it obtained NSO Group's most powerful Pegasus Spyware suggesting  that it bought access to the Israeli surveillance tool "to stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft".

Can Pegasus spy on your phone  :

And once the Pegasus gets into your smartphone, now your text messages, e-mails, contacts, photos, passwords etc. can be accessed by the other party.  In fact, the access is given to such an extent that even your device mic or camera can also be operated by the one who is spying on you conveniently.  Mostly, the common man is not targeted by the spyware.  It is spying on communications of a number of activists, journalists, bureaucrats  and national leaders.

Pegasus is  called the "most sophisticated" smartphone attack ever.

Let's hope that Pegasus Spyware won't be used for malicious purpose to disrupt the peace and harmony of world citizens.