Incidents of eavesdropping on the phones leaked
The incidents of eavesdropping on the smartphones of important people in different countries of the world have been leaked. An analysis of 17 media outlets, including The Guardian, revealed the information. Pegasus software developed by the Israeli company NSO Group has been used for this eavesdropping.
According to a report in the Guardian, the governments of authoritarian countries are using this spyware to eavesdrop. Journalists, human rights activists, lawyers as well as members of the ruling family in different countries have also been reportedly harassed.
The Paris-based non-profit news agency Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International have received a list of more than half a million phone numbers. Later it was supplied to other media. It is thought that Pegasus malware users have been eavesdropping on these numbers since 2016.
When the Pegasus software gets into a smartphone, the NSO customer gets possession of the entire phone. The customer sees all the important information including phone messages, calls, pictures, emails without the knowledge of the customer. It can even secretly turn on the camera or microphone. Even the chat of encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp and Telegram is not protected from this malware.
It is not confirmed at this time whether all the numbers of the list have eavesdropped but it is believed that at least these numbers have been selected for surveillance.
