WhatsApp has confirmed that an Israeli spyware was being used to snoop on several Indian journalists and activists. A report in The Indian Express states an Israeli spyware was used to snoop on two dozen academics, lawyers, Dalit activists and journalists in India.
Several of them were contacted and informed that their phones had been under surveillance for a two-week period in May 2019.
WhatsApp sued an Israeli firm in a San Francisco for targeting over 1400 users with Pegasus.
The company told Indian Express: “Indian journalists and human rights activists have been the target of surveillance and while I cannot reveal their identities and the exact number, I can say that it is not an insignificant number.”
The IT Ministry headed by Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked WhatsApp to respond by 4th November.
Who are the NSO group and who asked them to target it?
The NSO Group is an Israeli tech company whose services are used by governments and forces of law and order to track terror rings, sex trafficking and other such heinous crimes.
Israeli tech company NSO disputed the allegations and said it will fight it. They said their technology wasn’t for use against human rights activists and journalists.
According to its own website, the NSO states: “NSO Group develops best-in-class technology to help government agencies detect and prevent terrorism and crime. Our products help licensed government intelligence and law-enforcement agencies lawfully address the most dangerous issues in today’s world. NSO’s technology has helped prevent terrorism, break up criminal operations, find missing persons, and assist search and rescue teams”
It added: “NSO products are used exclusively by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight crime and terror.”
It further said on its site: “Our products have been successfully used to:
Prevent terrorism, including gun violence, car bombs, and suicide bombers at transportation hubs, public parks, markets, concert venues, sports arenas, and other public areas
Break up paedophilia, sex- and drug-trafficking rings, and money-laundering operations
Find and rescue kidnapped children
Assist emergency search and rescue (SAR) teams in locating survivors trapped under collapsed buildings in the wake of natural disasters or construction failures
This further brings up the question, if NSO was indeed just for ‘government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight crime and terror’, who ordered them to snoop on human rights activists and journalists?
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.
