Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Thursday said Indian journalists and human rights activists were among those globally spied upon by unnamed entities using an Israeli sypware Peagasus.
WhatsApp said it was suing NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance firm, that is reportedly behind the technology that helped unnamed entities' spies to hack into phones of roughly 1,400 users.
These users span across four continents and included diplomats, political dissidents, journalists and senior government officials.
However, it did not say on whose behest the phones of journalists and activists across the world were targeted.
What message did they receive?
Journalist and tech reporter Pranav Dixit tweeted that this was the message received by individuals who were targets of the Pegasus hack
Who was targeted?
WhatsApp said it "believes the attack targeted at least 100 members of civil society... this number may grow higher as more victims come forward".
WhatsApp Head Will Cathcart said these victims include human rights defenders, journalists and other members of the civil society across the world.
"Tools that enable surveillance into our private lives are being abused, and the proliferation of this technology into the hands of irresponsible companies and governments puts us all at risk," Cathcart said in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
Cathcart asserted that WhatsApp was committed to the fundamental right to privacy and that it is working to stay ahead of those who seek to violate that right.
A cybersecurity research lab at the University of Toronto, Citizen Lab, had helped WhatsApp investigate the hacking incident.
What is the Pegasus Method?
The Pegasus Method sounds like it’s right out of Lisabeth Salander’s hacking manual from The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo.
In this technique, a Pegasus operator gets people to click on a specially crafted link which allows the operator to penetrate the phone’s defences. Once Pegasus is installed, it begins contacting the operators command to receive and execute operator commands, sending back the target’s private data – including passwords, contact lists and other information. It can even use the phone’s camera and microphone to spy on the vicinity.
Incidentally, the NSO group terminated its contract with Saudi Arabia following Khashoggi’s killing and information that the spyware might have played a role in tracking the dissident.
So far what’s not known is – who ordered the snooping? Was it successful? Who was snooped upon? Why were certain individuals handpicked? So far, the government hasn’t responded to the allegations or made a comment on the matter.
With inputs from agencies
