Israeli malware ‘Pegasus’ has infected WhatsApp of several Indian Journalists, human rights activists as well as politicians. In retaliation, WhatsApp is suing Israeli cyberarms firm NSO Group, the organization behind Pegasus.
Crux of the Matter
Pegasus has targeted around 1400 users across the globe, ranging from political figures to journalists.
10 Indian activists have claimed as of yet to be victims of this virus.
WhatsApp is to submit a detailed report to the IT ministry of India on this breach.
“The government is committed to protecting privacy of all Indian citizens. Government agencies have a well established protocol for interception, which includes sanction and supervision from highly ranked officials in central and state governments, for clear stated reasons in national interest,” said Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The founders of NSO, the organization that created Pegasus, are said to be ex-members of Unit 8200, the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signals intelligence.
Curiopedia
Pegasus is spyware that can be installed on devices running certain versions of iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, and Android devices, developed by the Israeli cyberarms firm, NSO Group. Discovered in August 2016 after a failed attempt at installing it on an iPhone belonging to a human rights activist, an investigation revealed details about the spyware, its abilities, and the security vulnerabilities it exploited. Pegasus is capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, tracing the location of the phone, accessing the target device’s microphone and video camera and gathering information from apps. Read More
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