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Wikipedia

Pegasus (spyware)

December 15, 2023

Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running iOS and Android.[1] While NSO Group markets Pegasus as a product for fighting crime and terrorism, governments around the world have routinely used the spyware to surveil journalists, lawyers, political dissidents, and human rights activists.[2]

Pegasus
Developer(s)NSO Group
Initial releaseAugust 2016
Operating systemiOS, Android
TypeSpyware
Websitewww.nsogroup.com

As of March 2023, Pegasus operators were able to remotely install the spyware on iOS versions through 16.0.3 using a zero-click exploit.[3] While the capabilities of Pegasus may vary over time due to software updates, Pegasus is generally capable of reading text messages, call snooping, collecting passwords, location tracking, accessing the target device's microphone and camera, and harvesting information from apps.[4][5] The spyware is named after Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology.[6]

Cyber watchdog Citizen Lab and Lookout Security published the first public technical analyses of Pegasus in August 2016 after they captured the spyware in a failed attempt to spy on the iPhone of a human rights activist.[7][8] Subsequent investigations into Pegasus by Amnesty International, Citizen Lab, and others have garnered significant media attention, most prominently in July 2021 with the release of the Pegasus Project investigation, which centered on a leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers reportedly selected for targeting by Pegasus customers.[9][10]

Background edit

NSO Group developed its first iteration of Pegasus spyware in 2011.[5] The company states that it provides "authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime."[11][12] 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.[13]

Discovery edit

Pegasus's iOS exploitation was identified in August 2016. Arab human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor received a text message promising "secrets" about torture happening in prisons in the United Arab Emirates by following a link. Mansoor sent the link to Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, which investigated, with the collaboration of Lookout, finding that if Mansoor had followed the link it would have jailbroken his phone and implanted the spyware into it, in a form of social engineering.[14]

Citizen Lab and Lookout discovered that the link downloaded software to exploit three previously unknown and unpatched zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS.[7][8] According to their analysis, the software can jailbreak an iPhone when a malicious URL is opened. The software installs itself and collects all communications and locations of targeted iPhones. The software can also collect Wi-Fi passwords.[15] The researchers noticed that the software's code referenced an NSO Group product called "Pegasus" in leaked marketing materials.[16] Pegasus had previously come to light in a leak of records from Hacking Team, which indicated the software had been supplied to the government of Panama in 2015.[17] Citizen Lab and Lookout notified Apple's security team, which patched the flaws within ten days and released an update for iOS.[18] A patch for macOS was released six days later.[19]

Regarding how widespread the issue was, Lookout explained in a blog post: "We believe that this spyware has been in the wild for a significant amount of time based on some of the indicators within the code" and pointed out that the code shows signs of a "kernel mapping table that has values all the way back to iOS 7" (released 2013).[20] The New York Times and The Times of Israel both reported that it appeared that the United Arab Emirates was using this spyware as early as 2013.[21][22][23] It was used in Panama by former president Ricardo Martinelli from 2012 to 2014, who established the Consejo de Seguridad Pública y Defensa Nacional (National Security Council) for its use.[24][25][26][27]

Chronology edit

Several lawsuits outstanding in 2018 claimed that NSO Group helped clients operate the software and therefore participated in numerous violations of human rights initiated by its clients.[23] Two months after the murder and dismemberment of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi human rights activist, in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, a Canadian resident, filed suit in Israel against NSO Group, accusing the firm of providing the Saudi government with the surveillance software to spy on him and his friends, including Khashoggi.[28]

In December 2020, an Al Jazeera investigative show The Hidden is More Immense covered Pegasus and its penetration into the phones of media professionals and activists; and its use by Israel to eavesdrop on both opponents and allies.[29][30]

Technical details edit

The spyware can be installed on devices running certain versions of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, as well as some Android devices.[31] Rather than being a specific exploit, Pegasus is a suite of exploits that uses many vulnerabilities in the system. Infection vectors include clicking links, the Photos app, the Apple Music app, and iMessage. Some of the exploits Pegasus uses are zero-click — that is, they can run without any interaction from the victim. Once installed, Pegasus has been reported to be able to run arbitrary code, extract contacts, call logs, messages, photos, web browsing history, settings,[32] as well as gather information from apps including but not limited to communications apps iMessage, Gmail, Viber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype.[33]

In April 2017, after a Lookout report, Google researchers discovered Android malware "believed to be created by NSO Group Technologies" and named it Chrysaor (Pegasus' brother in Greek mythology). According to Google, "Chrysaor is believed to be related to the Pegasus spyware".[34] At the 2017 Security Analyst Summit held by Kaspersky Lab, researchers revealed that Pegasus was available for Android in addition to iOS. Its functionality is similar to the iOS version, but the mode of attack is different. The Android version tries to gain root access (similar to jailbreaking in iOS); if it fails, it asks the user for permissions that enable it to harvest at least some data. At the time Google said that only a few Android devices had been infected.[35]

Pegasus hides itself as far as is possible and self-destructs in an attempt to eliminate evidence if unable to communicate with its command-and-control server for more than 60 days, or if on the wrong device. Pegasus can also self-destruct on command.[35] If it is not possible to compromise a target device by simpler means, Pegasus can be installed by setting up a wireless transceiver near a target device, or by gaining physical access to the device.[36]

Development of capabilities edit

The earliest version of Pegasus – which was identified in 2016 – relied on a spear-phishing attack which required the target to click a malicious link in a text message or email.[36]

As of August 2016 – according to a former NSO employee – the U.S. version of Pegasus had 1-click capabilities for all phones apart from old Blackberry models which could be infiltrated with a 0-click attack.[37]

In 2019, WhatsApp revealed Pegasus had employed a vulnerability in its app to launch zero-click attacks (the spyware would be installed onto a target's phone by calling the target phone; the spyware would be installed even if the call was not answered).[36]

Since 2019, Pegasus has come to rely on iPhone iMessage vulnerabilities to deploy spyware.[36]

By 2020, Pegasus shifted towards zero-click exploits and network-based attacks. These methods allowed clients to break into target phones without requiring user interaction and without leaving any detectable traces.[38][39]

Apple Inc in a lawsuit against US-based cybersecurity startup, Corellium, alleged that it sold its virtualization technology to the NSO group and other such "bad actors" and actively encouraged them to find 0-day exploits.[40]

Vulnerabilities edit

Lookout provided details of the three iOS vulnerabilities:[20]

  • CVE-2016-4655: Information leak in kernel – A kernel base mapping vulnerability that leaks information to the attacker allowing them to calculate the kernel's location in memory.
  • CVE-2016-4656: Kernel memory corruption leads to jailbreak – 32 and 64 bit iOS kernel-level vulnerabilities that allow the attacker to secretly jailbreak the device and install surveillance software – details in reference.[41]
  • CVE-2016-4657: Memory corruption in the webkit – A vulnerability in the Safari WebKit that allows the attacker to compromise the device when the user clicks on a link.

Google's Project Zero documented another exploit, dubbed FORCEDENTRY, in December 2021. According to Google's researchers, Pegasus sent an iMessage to its targets that contained what appeared to be GIF images, but which in fact contained a JBIG2 image. A vulnerability in the Xpdf implementation of JBIG2, re-used in Apple's iOS phone operating software, allowed Pegasus to construct an emulated computer architecture inside the JBIG2 stream which was then used to implement the zero-click attack. Apple fixed the vulnerability in iOS 14.8 in September 2021 as CVE-2021-30860.[42]

As of July 2021, Pegasus likely uses many exploits, some not listed in the above CVEs.[31]

Pegasus Anonymizing Transmission Network edit

Human rights group Amnesty International reported in the 2021 investigation that Pegasus employs a sophisticated command-and-control (C&C) infrastructure to deliver exploit payloads and send commands to Pegasus targets. There are at least four known iterations of the C&C infrastructure, dubbed the Pegasus Anonymizing Transmission Network (PATN) by NSO group, each encompassing up to 500 domain names, DNS servers, and other network infrastructure. The PATN reportedly utilizes techniques such as registering high port numbers for their online infrastructure as to avoid conventional internet scanning. PATN also uses up to three randomised subdomains unique per exploit attempt as well as randomised URL paths.[31]

By country edit

See also: Pegasus Project (investigation)

Although Pegasus is stated as intended to be used against criminals and terrorists,[13] it has also been used by both authoritarian and democratic governments to spy on critics and opponents.[43] A UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion found that the use of the spyware by abusive governments could "facilitate extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, or enforced disappearance of persons."[44]

Armenia edit

About twenty Armenian citizens were spied on via Pegasus spyware. Media expert Arthur Papyan said it targeted the key figures of the opposition and the government – current and past government employees who knew valuable state secrets and have political influence, including the former director of the National Security Service and current chairman of the center-right Homeland Party. The local experts suspected that they were targeted either by the government of Armenia or Azerbaijan, or perhaps both. Papyan said that NSO group appears to be jailbreaking a phone and provides interface for viewing the obtained data. Minister of high-tech industry Vahagn Khachaturyan also received a warning letter from Apple, he rejected the theory that the spying party could be the current Armenian government.[45]

Azerbaijan edit

The list[needs context] of spied-upon citizens included dozens of journalists and activists from Azerbaijan. It was alleged that their mobile phones were tapped.[46] The head of Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe (Azadliq) Jamie Fly expressed his anger when it was revealed that the phones of his five current and former employees were tapped with Pegasus.[47]

Bahrain edit

Citizen Lab revealed the government of Bahrain used the NSO Group's Pegasus to hack activists, bloggers, members of Waad (a secular Bahraini political society), a member of Al Wefaq (a Shiite Bahraini political society), and members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Bahrain reportedly acquired access to spyware in 2017. As per the report, the mobile phones of a total of nine rights activists were "successfully hacked" between June 2020 and February 2021. Those hacked included three members of Waad, three of the BCHR, one of Al Wefaq, and two of the exiled dissidents who reside in London. The Citizen Lab attributed "with high confidence" that a Pegasus operator, LULU, was used by the Bahraini government to breach the phones of at least four of the nine activists.[48][49]

In January 2022, Bahrain was accused of using the Pegasus spyware to hack a human rights defender, Ebtisam al-Saegh. The prominent activist's phone was hacked at least eight times between August and November 2019. As per the Citizen Lab, following the hacking attempt, al-Saegh faced incidents where she was harassed by the Bahrain authorities. It included being summoned to a police station, interrogation, rape threats, and physical and sexual assault. The attack left the rights defender in a state of "daily fear and terror".[50]

In February 2022, an investigation by Citizen Lab and Amnesty International revealed that the Pegasus spyware was used to infect the devices of a lawyer, an online journalist, and a mental health counsellor in Bahrain. All of the three activists were critical of the Bahraini authorities and were targeted with Pegasus between June and September 2021. One of the three activists remained anonymous, while the other two were Mohammed al-Tajer and Sharifa Swar (mental health counselor).[51]

In December 2022, an exiled Bahraini activist, Yusuf al-Jamri filed a lawsuit against the Bahraini government and the NSO Group, alleging his phone was hacked using the Pegasus spyware in August 2019. The hacking was confirmed by the Citizen Lab researchers, who claimed that the servers that targeted al-Jamri were connected to Bahrain.[52][53] Yusuf al-Jamri fled to the UK with his family in 2017, after facing multiple detentions, and episodes of interrogation, torture, sexual assault, and rape threats. Experts claimed that he was hacked days after posting tweets about Moosa Mohammed, the Bahraini activist who protested the executions in Bahrain and climbed to the roof of the country's embassy in London.[52]

Djibouti edit

In 2018, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency purchased Pegasus for the Djibouti government to conduct counter-terrorism operations (despite Djibouti's poor human rights record).[54]

Dominican Republic edit

In 2023, an investigation by Amnesty International and Citizen Lab found that Nuria Piera, a Dominican Republic journalist known for her investigations into corruption in the country, was targeted by an unknown actor using Pegasus spyware at least three times between 2020 and 2021.[55]

Egypt edit

Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouly was selected for potential targeting by Pegasus – apparently by Saudi Arabia.[56]

El Salvador edit

In January 2022, El Faro, a prominent Salvadoran news outlet, revealed that a majority of its staff had their phones infiltrated using Pegasus. The targeting was uncovered in an investigation conducted by Citizen Lab, and Access Now; the investigation revealed that the journalists of another 13 Salvadoran news organisations were targeted as well. Between July 2020 and November 2021, Pegasus was deployed on the phones of 22 employees of El Faro, including reporters, editors, and other staff. At the time of the targeting, the El Faro was looking into governmental corruption scandals, and the government's clandestine dealings with the country's gangs. The Salvadoran government denied responsibility for the espionage, and NSO Group declined to reveal whether the Salvadoran government was a client.[57]

Estonia edit

Estonia entered negotiations to procure Pegasus in 2018, and had made a $30 million down payment for the tool. Estonia hoped to use the tool against Russian phones (presumably for gathering intelligence). Israel initially approved the export of Pegasus to Estonia, but after a senior Russian defense official approached the Israeli defense agencies and revealed that Russia had learned of Estonia's intentions to obtain Pegasus, Israel decided to disallow Estonia from using Pegasus against any Russian phone number (following a heated debate among Israeli officials) so as to avoid damaging Israeli relations with Russia.[58]

Estonia gained access to Pegasus spyware in 2019. Citizen Lab has uncovered that Estonia has deployed Pegasus outside its borders, against targets in "many" EU countries.[59]

Finland edit

In January 2022 Finnish foreign ministry reported that several phones of Finnish diplomats have been infected with the Pegasus spyware.[60]

France edit

In July 2021, Le Monde reported that President of France Emmanuel Macron and 14 French ministers were flagged as potential Pegasus targets for Pegasus spying by Morocco; Moroccan authorities denied Pegasus use and labelled the allegation as "unfounded and false"[61] which a consortium of journalists and Amnesty International have demonstrated that there are "technical elements that prove listening".[62]

Germany edit

Pegasus is in use by German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). BKA acquired Pegasus in 2019 with "utmost secrecy", and despite hesitations from its legal council. The use of Pegasus by BKA was later revealed by German media.[63] Sources from Germany's security services have told journalists that Germany's iteration of Pegasus spyware features built-in safeguards to prevent abuse and comply with EU privacy laws, however, officials have not publicly confirmed or elaborated on this.[59]

In February 2023, the independent Russian journalist and Putin's critique Galina Timchenko had her iPhone infected with Pegasus while being in Berlin.[64][65][59]

Hungary edit

The government of Viktor Orbán authorized the use of Pegasus by Hungarian intelligence and law enforcement services to target the government's political opponents.[58] The Orbán government has been accused of using it to spy on members of media as well as on Hungarian opposition.[66] According to the findings released in July 2021, journalists and managers of media holdings appear to have been spied on by the Hungarian government with Pegasus.[67][68] Phone numbers of at least 10 lawyers, at least 5 journalists, and an opposition politician were included on a leaked list of potential Pegasus surveillance targets.[69]

In November 2021, Lajos Kósa, head of a parliamentary defense and law enforcement committee, was the first Hungarian senior official who acknowledged that the country's Interior Ministry purchased and used Pegasus.[70] Kósa admitted that Hungary had indeed purchased and used Pegasus, stating "I don't see anything objectionable in it [...] large tech companies carry out much broader monitoring of citizens than the Hungarian state does."[66]

India edit

Main articles: Pegasus Project revelations in India and WhatsApp snooping scandal

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.[71][72][73] 17 individuals including human rights activists, scholars, and journalists confirmed to an Indian publication they had been targeted.[74]

Phone numbers of Indian ministers, opposition leaders, ex-election commissioners and journalists were allegedly found on a database of NSO hacking targets by Pegasus Project in 2021.[75][76][77] Phone numbers of Koregaon Bhima activists who had compromising data implanted on their computers through a hack found on a Pegasus surveillance phone number list.[78]

Independent digital forensic analysis conducted on 10 Indian phones whose numbers were present in the data showed signs of either an attempted or successful Pegasus hack. The results of the forensic analysis threw up shows sequential correlations between the time and date a phone number is entered in the list and the beginning of surveillance. The gap usually ranges between a few minutes and a couple of hours.[79]

11 phone numbers associated with a female employee of the Supreme Court of India and her immediate family, who accused the former Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, of sexual harassment, were also allegedly found on a database indicating possibility of their phones being snooped.[80][81]

Records also indicate that phone numbers of some of the key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time when an intense power struggle was taking place between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress-led state government in 2019.[82][83]

Iraq edit

The phone of Iraqi President Barham Salih was found on a list of potential Pegasus surveillance targets (however actual targeting – attempted or successful – could not be determined).[84] The targeting of Salih appeared to have been linked to Saudi Arabia and UAE.[56]

Israel edit

Israeli police use

In January 2022, it was reported that Pegasus was unlawfully used by the Israeli Police to monitor citizens as well as foreign nationals who were accidentally or intentionally infected by the software.[85] The surveillance was ordered by high-ranking police officers, and was carried out without warrants or judicial supervision.[86] The legal basis for use of spyware against citizens is disputed.[87][88] The police had allegedly targeted civilians not suspected of any crime, including organisers of antigovernmental protesters, mayors, anti-LGBT parade activists, employees of government-owned companies, an associate of a senior politician,[87] and former government employees.[86] In one case, it was alleged that police targeted an activist who was not suspected of a crime, allegedly to gather information about the activist's extra-marital affairs and use it as leverage.[87]

In some cases, Pegasus was used to obtain information unrelated to an ongoing investigation to be used later to pressure the subject of an investigation. In some cases, police used Pegasus to obtain incriminating information from suspects' devices, and then concealed the source of the incriminating information claiming it would expose intelligence assets.[89] While the Israeli Police formally denied the allegations in the report, some senior police officials have hinted that the claims were true.[90] The report led to the announcement of a number of parallel investigations into the police's conduct,[91] with some officials demanding a Commission of inquiry.[92] Although the Attorney General launched an internal probe into the allegations,[93] the Privacy Protection Council (which advises the Minister of Justice),[94] demanded that a state commission of inquiry be created.[92]

On February 1, the police admitted that there was, in fact, misuse of the software.[95] On February 7, the widespread extent of the warrantless surveillance was further revealed to have included politicians and government officials, heads of corporations, journalists, activists, and even Avner Netanyahu [he], the son of then-Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. This has led to renewed calls for a public inquiry, including from the current police commissioner Kobi Shabtai himself (appointed January 2021), as well as from the Minister of the Interior, Ayelet Shaked and others.[96]

Later in the day, the Minister of Public Security (the minister responsible for the police), Omer Bar-Lev, announced that he would be forming a commission of inquiry, to be chaired by a retired judge. Bar-Lev stressed that this commission will essentially be granted all the powers of a state commission (whose formation requires full cabinet support), including having the authority to subpoena witnesses, "regardless of seniority," whose testimony may be used in future prosecutions.[97] Despite this, calls for a state commission persisted from several ex-ministry heads who were targeted. The next day, the State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, calling the crisis a "trampling on the values of democracy and privacy," said that the investigation launched by his office will also be extensive, adding that it will not only include the police, but also the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney's Office.[98]

In September 2023, Apple issued an emergency software patch after it was warned that Israel's NSO Group had injected its Pegasus spyware remotely and surreptitiously on to iPhones and iPads.[99]

Jordan edit

Between August 2019 and December 2021, Apple phones of four Jordanian human rights activists, lawyers and journalists were hacked by a NSO government client (apparently Jordanian government agencies). The Jordanian government denied involvement.[100]

In January 2022, it was revealed that Jordanian lawyer and activist Hala Ahed Deeb's phone was targeted with Pegasus.[101]

Kazakhstan edit

Activists in Kazakhstan were targeted,[102] in addition to top-level officials, like Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Askar Mamin and Bakytzhan Sagintayev. Among the 2000 targeted Kazak numbers were government critic Bakhytzhan Toregozhina, as well as journalists Serikzhan Mauletbay and Bigeldy Gabdullin.[103][104] Most of these victims were involved in a civic youth movement Oyan, Qazaqstan.[105]

Latvia edit

Citizen Lab first noted the use of Pegasus in Latvia in 2018; Citizen Lab believes Pegasus is still being used by Latvia as of 2023.[59]

In February 2023, the iPhone of Galina Timchenko, Russian journalist and co-founder of the Latvia-based Russian news publication Meduza, was infected with Pegasus. Timchenko received a notification about a state-sponsored attack against her device from Apple, with experts from Citizen Lab and Access Now subsequently confirming that the device had indeed been compromised with Pegasus, with the attacker having gained full access to the device. The attack occurred the day before a conference of exiled independent Russian media in Berlin which Timchenko attended; her phone could have been used to evesdrop on the journalists' conversations during the conference. This attack is the first confirmed instance of Pegasus being used against a Russian journalist. It is unclear which state carried out the attack: a European intelligence agency have also sought to surveil prominent Russian expatriots, and while NSO Group does not export Pegasus to Russia, a third country could also have carried out the attack on Russia's behest. Timchenko was in Germany during the attack but had a phone with a Latvian sim card.[59]

The Guardian subsequently ascertained that three other Russian expatriot journalists with Latvian phone numbers also received notifications about state-sponsor attacks against their devices from Apple (as well as one additional Russian journalist with a non-Latvian phone number).[106]

Mexico edit

According to the New York Times, Mexico has been "the first and most prolific user of Pegasus".[107] Mexico was the first country to purchase Pegasus,[108] seeing it as a novel tool in the country's struggle against drug cartels. Mexican authorities also sought to cultivate autonomous intelligence capabilities, having hitherto been highly reliant on the United States for intelligence gathering capabilities.[107]

Early versions of Pegasus were used to surveil the phone of Joaquín Guzmán, known as El Chapo. In 2011, Mexican President Felipe Calderón reportedly called NSO to thank the company for its role in Guzmán's capture.[109][110]

Within years, authorities began to use Pegasus to target civil society (including human rights advocates, anti-corruption activists, and journalists).[107] When a list of 50,000 phone numbers of potential Pegasus surveillance targets (selected by individual client governments) was leaked in 2021, a third of them were Mexican.[108]

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (who took office in 2018) had pledged to halt the use of the spyware by Mexican authorities, nonetheless, reports of use and abuse of Pegasus have continued throughout his presidency (including an opposition politician). After federal police and intelligence agency reforms by the Obrador government, the Mexican military became the sole Pegasus user in 2019. The Mexican armed forces have been a prolific user of Pegasus.[107] The Mexican armed forces have taken on an ever more prominent role during Obrador's presidency, and may have grown into an independent power center capable of autonomously spying on civilian detractors and critics, with the government powerless to reign in its abuses.[111][112] The military went so far as to target Alejandro Encinas, the country's under-secretary for human rights (and a close ally of President Obrador), a prominent critic of the military who was investigating human rights abuses committed by the Mexican military at the time of the targeting, as well as other government officials involved in this inquiry.[112]

As of 2023, Mexico's spending on Pegasus had totaled over $60 million.[107]

Targeting of scientists and health campaigners

In 2017, Citizen Lab researchers revealed that NSO exploit links may have been sent to Mexican scientists and public health campaigners.[113] The targets supported measures to reduce childhood obesity, including Mexico's "Soda Tax."[114]

2014 Iguala mass kidnapping

In July 2017, the international team assembled to investigate the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping publicly complained they thought they were being surveilled by the Mexican government.[115] They stated that the Mexican government used Pegasus to send them messages about funeral homes containing links which, when clicked, allowed the government to surreptitiously listen to the investigators.[115] The Mexican government has repeatedly denied any unauthorized hacking.[115]

In 2023, it was revealed that Mexican Army intelligence was using Pegasus to monitor Guerreros Unidos cartel members and police officials in the area at the time of the kidnapping, capturing a cartel boss and the police commander discussing where to take the students that night. The Army had soldiers on the streets and a local battalion had an informant embedded with the students. Intercepted communications days later revealed two suspects talking about releasing students, indicating they may still have been alive. Despite this, the military never shared any of this information with officials searching for the students, and there is no evidence to suggest they attempted a rescue.[116]

Assassination of journalist Cecilio Pineda Birto

Cecilio Pineda Birto, a Mexican freelance journalist was assassinated by hitmen while resting in a hammock by a carwash. Brito had been reporting on the ties between local politicians and criminal organizations, and had received anonymous death threats during the weeks preceding the assassination; at about the same time, his phone number was selected as a possible target for Pegasus surveillance by a Mexican Pegasus client. Pegasus spyware may have been used to ascertain Brito's location to carry out the hit by geolocating his phone; the deployment of Pegasus on his phone could however not be confirmed as his phone disappeared from the scene of the murder.[117]

Targeting of presidential candidate Obrador

In the run-up to the 2018 Mexican presidential election, dozens of close associates of the presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (who was subsequently elected) were selected as potential targets. Potential targets included close family members, his cardiologist, and members of his personal and political inner circle. Recordings of Obrador's conversations with family and party colleagues were subsequently leaked to the public in an attempt to disrupt his electoral campaign.[56]

Use by Mexican drug cartels

Pegasus has been used by drug cartels and cartel-entwined government actors to target and intimidate Mexican journalists.[118]

Other

A widow of slain renowned Mexican journalist was a target of an attempted Pegasus attack 10 days after her husband was assassinated.[119]

Morocco edit

In 2019, two Moroccan pro-democracy campaigners were notified by WhatsApp that their phones had been compromised with Pegasus.[74]

In June 2020, an investigation by Amnesty International alleged that Moroccan journalist Omar Radi was targeted by the Moroccan government using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. The rights group claimed that the journalist was targeted three times and spied on after his device was infected with an NSO tool. Meanwhile, Amnesty also claimed that the attack came after the NSO group updated their policy in September 2019.[120]

In July 2021, it was revealed that the Moroccan PM Saad Eddine el-Othamani and Moroccan King Mohammed VI were selected for targeting – apparently by Moroccan state actors themselves.[56]

According to revelations from July 2021, Morocco had targeted more than 6,000 Algerian phones, including those of politicians and high-ranking military officials, with the spyware.[121][122] The Algerian government subsequently severed diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021, citing alleged Moroccan deployment of Pegasus against Algerian officials as one of the "hostile actions" that undergirded the decision.[123]

Netherlands edit

The Netherlands is a suspected Pegasus user.[59] Pegasus spyware was used to spy on Ridouan Taghi, a high-profile criminal. After the murder of the lawyer Derk Wiersum, the AIVD (Dutch security service) was asked to help with the process of catching Ridouan Taghi.[124]

Panama edit

President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli personally sought to obtain cyberespionage tools after his election in 2009. After a rebuff by the U.S. in 2009, Martinelli successfully sought such tools from Israeli vendors, expressing an interest in acquiring a tool capable of hacking into mobile phones in a 2010 private meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu. In 2012, NSO systems were installed in Panama City. The equipment was subsequently widely used for illicit domestic and foreign spying, including for spying on political opponents, magistrates, union leaders, and business competitors, with Martinelli allegedly going so far as to order the surveillance of his mistress using Pegasus.[5]

Palestine edit

The mobile phones of six Palestinian activists were hacked using Pegasus with some of the attacks reportedly occurring as far back as July 2020, according to a report from Front Line Defenders.[125] Salah Hammouri, a French-Palestinian human rights defender and one of the six victims of the Pegasus attack, has filed a lawsuit against NSO in France, accusing the company of a privacy rights violation.[100]

Poland edit

Pegasus licenses were agreed on between Benjamin Netanyahu and Beata Szydło in July 2017.[126] Citizen Lab revealed that several members of political opposition groups in Poland were hacked by Pegasus spyware, raising alarming questions about the Polish government's use of the software. A lawyer representing Polish opposition groups and a prosecutor involved in a case against the ruling Law and Justice party were also compromised.[127]

In December 2021, Citizen Lab announced that Pegasus was used against lawyer Roman Giertych and prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek, both critical of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) government, with Giertych's phone suffering 18 intrusions.[128] 33 hacks to the phone of Krzysztof Brejza, a senator from the opposition Civic Platform (PO) were uncovered,[129] and confirmed by Amnesty International.[130] Leading to the 2019 European and Polish parliamentary elections, Brejza's text messages were stolen as he was leading the opposition parties' campaign. The texts were doctored by state-run media, notably TVP, and used in a smear campaign against the opposition.[130][131][132] This prompted the Polish Senate to begin an inquiry into the deployment of the spyware.[133]

On January 25, 2022, more victims were confirmed by Citizen Lab, including Michał Kołodziejczak of the agrarian movement Agrounia, and Tomasz Szwejgiert, a journalist and alleged former associate of the CBA.[134][135]

According to the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), 544 of its employees' devices were under surveillance over 7,300 times, some could be infected with Pegasus.[136]

Rwanda edit

Political activists in Rwanda have been targeted with Pegasus,[137] including the daughter[138] and the nephew[139] of Paul Rusesabagina.

Saudi Arabia edit

In December 2020, it was reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed a zero-click iMessage Pegasus exploit against two London-based reporters and 36 journalists at the Al Jazeera television network in Qatar.[38][39]

Jamal Khashoggi

Pegasus was used by Saudi Arabia to spy on Jamal Kashoggi,[140] who was later assassinated in Turkey. 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[141] 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 death.[142]

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.[143] 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.[144]

In 2021, allegations arose that the software may also have been used to spy on members of Kashoggi's family.[145] The wife of Jamal Khashoggi, Hanan Elatr, intended to sue the NSO Group, alleging that she was targeted with Pegasus spyware. She also prepared a lawsuit in the US against the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their involvement in the attempts to install the software on her mobile phone. Elatr was arrested in Dubai in April 2018. Activity on Etatr's confiscated phone, while she was in the custody of UAE intelligence services, further suggested that an attempt was made to install the software at that time.[146]

Targeting of Jeff Bezos

Main article: Jeff Bezos phone hacking incident

Pegasus was also used to spy on Jeff Bezos after Mohammed bin Salman, the crown-prince of Saudi Arabia, exchanged messages with him that exploited then-unknown vulnerabilities in WhatsApp.[147][148]

Targeting of journalist Ben Hubbard

Ben Hubbard, a Middle East correspondent for the New York Times, revealed in October 2021 that Saudi Arabia used the NSO Group's Pegasus software to hack into his phone. Hubbard was targeted repeatedly over a three-year period between June 2018 to June 2021 while he was reporting on Saudi Arabia, and writing a book about the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Hubbard was possibly targeted for writing the book about the Crown Prince, and for his involvement in revealing the UAE's hacking and surveillance attempt of Project Raven. Saudis attempted to peek into Hubbard's personal information twice in 2018, one through a suspicious text message and the other through an Arabic WhatsApp message inviting him to a protest at a Saudi embassy in Washington.

Two other attacks were launched against him in 2020 and 2021 using the zero-click hacking capabilities. Lastly, on June 13, 2021, an iPhone belonging to Hubbard was successfully hacked using the FORCEDENTRY exploit. Citizen Lab said in "high confidence" that the four attacks were attempted using Pegasus.[149][150]

Other targets

Another Saudi exile Omar Abdulaziz in Canada was identified by McKinsey & Company as being an influential dissident, and hence had two brothers imprisoned by the Saudi authorities, and his cell phone hacked by Pegasus.[140][151]

In June 2018, a Saudi satirist, Ghanem Almasarir, was targeted by Saudi Arabia with Pegasus software. The targeting and hacking of Almasarir's phone by a network linked to Saudi Arabia was confirmed by researchers at the Citizen Lab. On 28 May 2019, the letter of claim was delivered to the Saudi embassy in London on behalf of Ghanem Almasarir. In August 2022, a British judge ruled that the prominent dissident in London can sue Saudi Arabia for Pegasus hacking.[152]

South Africa edit

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa was revealed to have been selected as a potential target of Pegasus surveillance, possibly by the Rwandan state.[56]

Spain edit

Use against Catalan and Basque officials and independence proponents edit

According to an investigation by The Guardian and El País, Pegasus software was used by the government of Spain to compromise the phones of several politicians active in the Catalan independence movement, including President of the Parliament of Catalonia Roger Torrent, and former member of the Parliament of Catalonia Anna Gabriel i Sabaté.[153]

The scandal resurfaced in April 2022 following the publication of a report of a CitizenLab investigation that revealed widespread use of Pegasus against Catalan politicians and citizens, as well as Basque politician Arnaldo Otegi and MP Jon Iñarritu.[154][155] A total of 63 victims was identified,[156] with targets including elected officials (including high-ranking ones) and civil society members (including activists, journalists, lawyers, and computer scientists).[154] The true extent of the targeting was potentially far larger as Android devices are far more common in Spain while CitizenLab tools are specialised to uncover infiltration of Apple devices. Citizen Lab did not attribute the responsibility for the attacks to any perpetrators, but did note that circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the attacks were perpetrated by the Spanish Government.[156] On May 5, 2022, the Spanish Defense Minister admitted to surveillance of 20 people involved in the Catalan independence movement.[157]

Use against Spanish government officials edit

In May 2022, the Spanish Government revealed that the smartphones of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles had been targeted by Pegasus in May 2021.[158] Prime Minister Sanchez's device was infected twice, and Robles' device was infected once. A total of over 2.7GB of data was exfiltrated from the PM device, while only 9MB of data was extracted from the Defense Minister's device.[159] The espionage is, as of today, denied yet attributed to Moroccan entities, given the diplomatic tensions between the two at the time of the target.

Thailand edit

According to a report by Citizen Lab and Digital Reach, at least 30 political activists and government critics from Thailand were affected by the spyware. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society stated his ministry was not aware of any Pegasus usage by the government. A researcher from Citizen Lab has said that while 30 targets were confirmed definitively, they expect the actual number to be much higher.[160]

Tibet edit

Senior advisers of the Dalai Lama (who does not carry a personal phone himself), Tibet's president-in-exile, staff of a prominent Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader Gyalwang Karmapa, as well as several other Tibetan activists and clerics – all of whom are living in exile in India – were selected for potential targeting by Pegasus, likely by the Indian government.[161]

Togo edit

A joint investigation by The Guardian and Le Monde alleged that Pegasus software was used to spy on six critics of the government in Togo.[137]

Uganda edit

It has been reported that Muhoozi Kainerugaba brokered a deal to use Pegasus in Uganda, paying between $10 and $20 million in 2019. The software was later used to hack the phones of 11 US diplomats and employees of the US embassy in Uganda some time during 2021.[162]

Ukraine edit

At least since 2019, Ukraine had sought to obtain Pegasus in its effort to counter what it saw as an increasing threat of Russian aggression and espionage, however, Israel had imposed a near-total ban on weapons sales to Ukraine (which also encompassed cyberespionage tools), wary of selling Pegasus to states that would use the tool against Russia so as not to damage relations with Russia. In August 2021, at a time when Russian troops were amassing on the Ukrainian border, Israel again rebuffed a request from a Ukrainian delegation asking to obtain Pegasus; according to a Ukrainian official familiar with the matter, Pegasus could have provided critical support in Ukraine's effort to monitor Russian military activity. In the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials rebuked Israel's tepid support of Ukraine and Israeli efforts to maintain amicable relations with Russia.[58]

United Arab Emirates edit

In December 2020, it was reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed a zero-click iMessage Pegasus exploit against two London-based reporters and 36 journalists at the Al Jazeera television network in Qatar.[38][39]

Qatar hired Israeli-based cybersecurity firm "Sdema Group "in exchange of million-euro contract for providing security at the 2022 World Cup soccer championship in Qatar.[163]

The United Arab Emirates used Pegasus to spy on the members of Saudi-backed Yemeni government according to an investigation published in July 2021. The UAE used the spyware to monitor and spy on the ministers of the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, including Yemeni president and his family members, former Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Dagher, former Foreign Minister Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi, and current Minister of Youth and Sports, Nayef al-Bakri.[164]

In August 2021, Amnesty International confirmed that David Haigh, a prominent British Human Rights lawyer and founder of Human Rights NGO Detained International, was the first British person to have evidence on his mobile phone that it had been hacked by NSO spyware.[165] It is believed the illegal hacking was carried out in August 2020 by the government of Dubai. At the time of the infection, David Haigh was the lawyer representing Dubai Princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum who was being held hostage, and he was assisting Princess Haya bint Hussein and her legal team as well.[166] Haigh had been exchanging videos and text messages in secret for more than a year and a half with Princess Latifa through a phone that had been smuggled into the Dubai villa where she was being held. She stopped responding on July 21, 2020, according to a screenshot of the messages Haigh shared. The analysis shows that Haigh's phone was hacked two weeks later.[167]

On 24 September 2021, The Guardian reported that the telephone of Alaa al-Siddiq, executive director of ALQST, who died in a car accident in London on 20 June 2021, was infected with the Pegasus spyware for 5 years until 2020. Citizen Lab confirmed that the Emirati activist was hacked by a government client of Israel's NSO Group. The case represented a worrying trend for activists and dissidents, who escaped the UAE to live in the relative safety, but were never out of the reach of Pegasus.[168]

In October 2021, the British High Court ruled that agents of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum used Pegasus to hack the phones of his (ex)-wife, Princess Haya bint Hussein, her solicitors (including baroness Fiona Shackleton), a personal assistant and two members of her security team in the summer of 2020. The court ruled that the agents acted "with the express or implied authority" of the sheikh; he denied knowledge of the hacking. The judgment referred to the hacking as "serial breaches of (UK) domestic criminal law", "in violation of fundamental common law and ECHR rights", "interference with the process of this court and the mother's access to justice" and "abuse of power" by a head of state. NSO had contacted an intermediary in August 2020 to inform Princess Haya of the hack and is believed to have terminated its contract with the UAE.[169]

On 7 October 2021, the NSO Group stated that it had terminated its contract with the UAE to use its Pegasus spyware tool after the ruling by UK's High Court that Dubai's ruler misused the firm's Pegasus software to spy on his ex-wife and her legal advisers.[170]

In 2022, sources revealed that a unit of Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company, Mubadala Capital was one of the largest investors in €1 billion Novalpina Capital private equity fund, which bought the NSO Group in 2019. Since then, Mubadala has been an investor in the firm with its commitment of €50 million, acquiring a seat on the committee of largest investors of the equity fund. Journalists, human rights defenders and the women of Dubai's royal family were traced to have been hacked using the Pegasus spyware during the same time.[171]

A report by the Citizen Lab revealed that Pegasus spyware linked to an Emirati operative was used to hack into the phones at the Downing Street and the Foreign Office. One of the spyware attack on No 10 was on 7 July 2020, which was asserted to have infected the phone of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Besides, at least five attacks were identified on Foreign Office phones by UK allies, including the UAE, between July 2020 and June 2021.[172] The UAE was also alleged of hiring a firm to "monitor" Jeremy Corbyn.[173]

United Kingdom (UK) edit

In April 2022, Citizen Lab released a report stating that 10 Downing Street staff had been targeted by Pegasus, and that the United Arab Emirates was suspected of originating the attacks in 2020 and 2021.[174]

United States (US) edit

NSO Group pitched its spyware to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which declined to purchase it due to its high cost.[175]

In August 2016, NSO Group (through its U.S. subsidiary Westbridge) pitched its U.S. version of Pegasus to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD). In the marketing material, Westbridge emphasized that the company is U.S.-based and majority-owned by a U.S. parent company. An SDPD Sergeant responded to the sales pitch with "sounds awesome". The SDPD declined to purchase the spyware as it was too expensive.[37]

In July 2021, it was revealed that the phone numbers of about a dozen U.S. citizens – including diplomats, journalists, aid workers, and dissident expatriates – were on a list of prospective targets for Pegasus infiltration, however, it was not known whether an attack was ever attempted or completed against any of their devices. Among the phone numbers discovered on the list were those of the Biden administration's chief negotiator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as well as those of several United Nations diplomats residing in the U.S. NSO Group has said that Pegasus is not deployed against any device located within the territory of the U.S., however, it has been suggested that U.S. citizens can become targets when abroad.[176]

In December 2021, it was reported that Pegasus spyware was found in the preceding months on the iPhones of at least nine U.S. State Department employees, all of whom were either stationed in Uganda or worked on matters related to Uganda.[177] Later the same month, AP reported that a total of 11 U.S. State Department employees stationed in Uganda had their iPhones hacked with Pegasus.[178] The US government blacklisted the NSO Group to stop what it called "transnational repression".[179]

In January 2022, it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had secretly bought the Pegasus spyware in 2019 and had seen a demonstration of Phantom, a newer tool capable of targeting American phone numbers. The FBI went on to test both tools, and considered their use for domestic surveillance in the U.S., which reportedly led to discussions between the FBI and United States Department of Justice; ultimately the FBI decided against using NSO spyware. However, despite the 2021 decision rejecting use of NSO software, Pegasus equipment is still in the FBI's possession at a New Jersey facility.[180][181] Responding to the reports, FBI officials played down the domestic surveillance aspect of the Pegasus testing, instead stressing counter-intelligence as their purported main goal. A document later obtained by The New York Times clearly showed that the agency weighed using Pegasus and Phantom in domestic law enforcement cases.[182][183]

L3Harris, a U.S. defense contractor, was in talks to acquire NSO Group, the maker of Pegasus. L3Harris reportedly had the backing of U.S. intelligence in undertaking the acquisition negotiations. After months of negotiations, the talks were scuttled after they were made known to the public by the news media in June 2022, with the U.S. government publicly rebuking the acquisition attempt.[54]

Yemen edit

The forensic analysis of UN independent investigator Kamel Jendoubi's mobile phone revealed on 20 December 2021 that he was targeted using spyware while probing war crimes of Yemen. Jendoubi was targeted while he was examining possible war crimes in Yemen. Jendoubi's mobile number was also found in the leaked database of the Pegasus Project. According to the data, Jendoubi was one of the potential targets of one of NSO Group's long-time clients, Saudi Arabia. However, NSO spokesperson denied Kamel Jendoubi as any of its client's targets.[184]

International organizations edit

European Union edit

In April 2022, according to two EU officials and documentation obtained by Reuters, the European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and other European Commission officials had been targeted by NSO's software. The commission learned of this after Apple notified thousands of iPhone users in November 2021 that they were targeted by state-sponsored hackers. According to the same two sources, IT experts examined some of the smartphones, but the results were inconclusive.[185]

Pegasus Project edit

Main article: Pegasus Project (investigation)

A leak of a list of more than 50,000 telephone numbers believed to have been identified as those of people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016 became available to Paris-based media nonprofit organisation Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. They shared the information with seventeen news media organisations in what has been called Pegasus Project, and a months-long investigation was carried out, which reported from mid-July 2021. The Pegasus Project involved 80 journalists from the media partners including The Guardian (UK), Radio France and Le Monde (France), Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), The Washington Post (United States), Haaretz (Israel), Aristegui Noticias, Proceso (Mexico), the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Knack, Le Soir, The Wire,[186] Daraj,[187] Direkt36 (Hungary),[188] and Frontline.[9] Evidence was found that many phones with numbers in the list had been targets of Pegasus spyware.[13][189] However, The CEO of NSO Group categorically claimed that the list in question is unrelated to them, the source of the allegations can't be verified as reliable one. "This is an attempt to build something on a crazy lack of information... There is something fundamentally wrong with this investigation".[190]

French intelligence (ANSSI) confirmed that Pegasus spyware had been found on the phones of three journalists, including a journalist of France 24, in what was the first time an independent and official authority corroborated the findings of the investigation.[191]

On 26 January 2022, the reports revealed that mobile phones of Lama Fakih, a US-Lebanese citizen and director of crisis and conflict at Human Rights Watch, were repeatedly hacked by a client of NSO Group at a time when she was investigating the 2020 Beirut explosion that killed more than 200 people.[192]

In July 2021, a joint investigation conducted by seventeen media organisations, revealed that Pegasus spyware was used to target and spy on heads of state, activists, journalists, and dissidents, enabling "human rights violations around the world on a massive scale". The investigation was launched after a leak of 50,000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets. Amnesty International carried out forensic analysis of mobile phones of potential targets. The investigation identified 11 countries as NSO clients: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo, and the United Arab Emirates. The investigation also revealed that journalists from multiple media organizations including Al Jazeera, CNN, the Financial Times, the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and Le Monde were targeted, and identified at least 180 journalists from 20 countries who were selected for targeting with NSO spyware between 2016 and June 2021.[193][194]

Reactions edit

NSO Group response edit

Responding to August 2016 reports of a targeting of an Arab activist, NSO Group stated that they provide "authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime", although the Group told him that they had no knowledge of any incidents.[195]

Bug-bounty program skepticism edit

In the aftermath of the news, critics asserted that Apple's bug-bounty program, which rewards people for finding flaws in its software, might not have offered sufficient rewards to prevent exploits being sold on the black market, rather than being reported back to Apple. Russell Brandom of The Verge commented that the reward offered in Apple's bug-bounty program maxes out at $200,000, "just a fraction of the millions that are regularly spent for iOS exploits on the black market". He goes on to ask why Apple doesn't "spend its way out of security vulnerabilities?", but also writes that "as soon as [the Pegasus] vulnerabilities were reported, Apple patched them—but there are plenty of other bugs left. While spyware companies see an exploit purchase as a one-time payout for years of access, Apple's bounty has to be paid out every time a new vulnerability pops up."

Brandom also wrote; "The same researchers participating in Apple's bug bounty could make more money selling the same finds to an exploit broker." He concluded the article by writing; "It's hard to say how much damage might have been caused if Mansoor had clicked on the spyware link... The hope is that, when the next researcher finds the next bug, that thought matters more than the money."[196]

Complaints edit

WhatsApp edit

On 20 October 2019, Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against Israel's NSO Group for exploiting a bug in its WhatsApp messaging app to install spyware (Pegasus) that allowed the surveillance of 1400 people in 20 countries, including journalists, human rights activists, and dissidents. gives, filed in the US Federal Court.[197] WhatsApp said it was seeking a permanent demand to block NSO from using its service, and asked lawmakers to bar the use of cyberweapons like those NSO Group has sold to governments. On 9 January 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States denied the appeal of NSO of the lower court's decision to continue the lawsuit and allowed WhatsApp to pursue its lawsuit against Israel's NSO Group.[198]

Apple edit

On 23 November 2021, Apple announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Israeli cyber company NSO Group and its parent company OSY Technologies for allegedly surveillance and targeting iPhone users with its Pegasus spyware. Apple stated that contrary to NSO's claim of targeting terrorists and criminals, this spyware has also been used against activists, politicians, and journalists.[199] Apple's statement said the company is seeking a permanent injunction to bar NSO Group from using Apple's software, services, or devices to prevent further abuse and harm to users.[200]

Books edit

On January 17, 2023, a book about the Pegasus spyware by investigative journalists, Laurent Richards and Sandrine Rigaud, was published.[201]

See also edit

References edit

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External links edit

  • Kaster, Sean D.; Ensign, Prescott C. (December 2022). "Privatized espionage: NSO Group Technologies and its Pegasus spyware". Thunderbird International Business Review. 65 (3): 355–364. doi:10.1002/tie.22321. S2CID 254212426.
  • Rudie, JD; Katz, Zach; Kuhbander, Sam; Bhunia, Suman (2021). "Technical Analysis of the NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware". 2021 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI). pp. 747–752. doi:10.1109/CSCI54926.2021.00188. ISBN 978-1-6654-5841-2. S2CID 249929111.
  • Chawla, Ajay (July 21, 2021). "Pegasus Spyware – 'A Privacy Killer'". SSRN 3890657.
  • "Israel surveillance exports to survive Pegasus scandal". Emerald Expert Briefings. 2021. doi:10.1108/OXAN-DB263067. S2CID 241381239.
  • Leander, Anna (March 2021). "Parsing Pegasus: An Infrastructural Approach to the Relationship between Technology and Swiss Security Politics". Swiss Political Science Review. 27 (1): 205–213. doi:10.1111/spsr.12441. S2CID 233971106.
  • Marczak, Bill; Anstis, Siena; Crete-Nishihata, Masashi; Scott-Railton, John; Deibert, Ron (January 28, 2020). Stopping the Press: New York Times Journalist Targeted by Saudi-linked Pegasus Spyware Operator. University of Toronto (Report). hdl:1807/102557.
  • "Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus". PBS Frontline. January 3, 2023.

December 15, 2023
pegasus, spyware, pegasus, spyware, developed, israeli, cyber, arms, company, group, that, designed, covertly, remotely, installed, mobile, phones, running, android, while, group, markets, pegasus, product, fighting, crime, terrorism, governments, around, worl. Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running iOS and Android 1 While NSO Group markets Pegasus as a product for fighting crime and terrorism governments around the world have routinely used the spyware to surveil journalists lawyers political dissidents and human rights activists 2 PegasusDeveloper s NSO GroupInitial releaseAugust 2016Operating systemiOS AndroidTypeSpywareWebsitewww wbr nsogroup wbr comAs of March 2023 Pegasus operators were able to remotely install the spyware on iOS versions through 16 0 3 using a zero click exploit 3 While the capabilities of Pegasus may vary over time due to software updates Pegasus is generally capable of reading text messages call snooping collecting passwords location tracking accessing the target device s microphone and camera and harvesting information from apps 4 5 The spyware is named after Pegasus the winged horse of Greek mythology 6 Cyber watchdog Citizen Lab and Lookout Security published the first public technical analyses of Pegasus in August 2016 after they captured the spyware in a failed attempt to spy on the iPhone of a human rights activist 7 8 Subsequent investigations into Pegasus by Amnesty International Citizen Lab and others have garnered significant media attention most prominently in July 2021 with the release of the Pegasus Project investigation which centered on a leaked list of 50 000 phone numbers reportedly selected for targeting by Pegasus customers 9 10 Contents 1 Background 1 1 Discovery 1 2 Chronology 2 Technical details 2 1 Development of capabilities 2 2 Vulnerabilities 2 3 Pegasus Anonymizing Transmission Network 3 By country 3 1 Armenia 3 2 Azerbaijan 3 3 Bahrain 3 4 Djibouti 3 5 Dominican Republic 3 6 Egypt 3 7 El Salvador 3 8 Estonia 3 9 Finland 3 10 France 3 11 Germany 3 12 Hungary 3 13 India 3 14 Iraq 3 15 Israel 3 16 Jordan 3 17 Kazakhstan 3 18 Latvia 3 19 Mexico 3 20 Morocco 3 21 Netherlands 3 22 Panama 3 23 Palestine 3 24 Poland 3 25 Rwanda 3 26 Saudi Arabia 3 27 South Africa 3 28 Spain 3 28 1 Use against Catalan and Basque officials and independence proponents 3 28 2 Use against Spanish government officials 3 29 Thailand 3 30 Tibet 3 31 Togo 3 32 Uganda 3 33 Ukraine 3 34 United Arab Emirates 3 35 United Kingdom UK 3 36 United States US 3 37 Yemen 3 38 International organizations 3 38 1 European Union 4 Pegasus Project 5 Reactions 5 1 NSO Group response 5 2 Bug bounty program skepticism 6 Complaints 6 1 WhatsApp 6 2 Apple 7 Books 8 See also 9 References 10 External linksBackground editNSO Group developed its first iteration of Pegasus spyware in 2011 5 The company states that it provides authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime 11 12 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 13 Discovery edit Pegasus s iOS exploitation was identified in August 2016 Arab human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor received a text message promising secrets about torture happening in prisons in the United Arab Emirates by following a link Mansoor sent the link to Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto which investigated with the collaboration of Lookout finding that if Mansoor had followed the link it would have jailbroken his phone and implanted the spyware into it in a form of social engineering 14 Citizen Lab and Lookout discovered that the link downloaded software to exploit three previously unknown and unpatched zero day vulnerabilities in iOS 7 8 According to their analysis the software can jailbreak an iPhone when a malicious URL is opened The software installs itself and collects all communications and locations of targeted iPhones The software can also collect Wi Fi passwords 15 The researchers noticed that the software s code referenced an NSO Group product called Pegasus in leaked marketing materials 16 Pegasus had previously come to light in a leak of records from Hacking Team which indicated the software had been supplied to the government of Panama in 2015 17 Citizen Lab and Lookout notified Apple s security team which patched the flaws within ten days and released an update for iOS 18 A patch for macOS was released six days later 19 Regarding how widespread the issue was Lookout explained in a blog post We believe that this spyware has been in the wild for a significant amount of time based on some of the indicators within the code and pointed out that the code shows signs of a kernel mapping table that has values all the way back to iOS 7 released 2013 20 The New York Times and The Times of Israel both reported that it appeared that the United Arab Emirates was using this spyware as early as 2013 21 22 23 It was used in Panama by former president Ricardo Martinelli from 2012 to 2014 who established the Consejo de Seguridad Publica y Defensa Nacional National Security Council for its use 24 25 26 27 Chronology edit Several lawsuits outstanding in 2018 claimed that NSO Group helped clients operate the software and therefore participated in numerous violations of human rights initiated by its clients 23 Two months after the murder and dismemberment of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi a Saudi human rights activist in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul Turkey Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz a Canadian resident filed suit in Israel against NSO Group accusing the firm of providing the Saudi government with the surveillance software to spy on him and his friends including Khashoggi 28 In December 2020 an Al Jazeera investigative show The Hidden is More Immense covered Pegasus and its penetration into the phones of media professionals and activists and its use by Israel to eavesdrop on both opponents and allies 29 30 Technical details editThe spyware can be installed on devices running certain versions of iOS Apple s mobile operating system as well as some Android devices 31 Rather than being a specific exploit Pegasus is a suite of exploits that uses many vulnerabilities in the system Infection vectors include clicking links the Photos app the Apple Music app and iMessage Some of the exploits Pegasus uses are zero click that is they can run without any interaction from the victim Once installed Pegasus has been reported to be able to run arbitrary code extract contacts call logs messages photos web browsing history settings 32 as well as gather information from apps including but not limited to communications apps iMessage Gmail Viber Facebook WhatsApp Telegram and Skype 33 In April 2017 after a Lookout report Google researchers discovered Android malware believed to be created by NSO Group Technologies and named it Chrysaor Pegasus brother in Greek mythology According to Google Chrysaor is believed to be related to the Pegasus spyware 34 At the 2017 Security Analyst Summit held by Kaspersky Lab researchers revealed that Pegasus was available for Android in addition to iOS Its functionality is similar to the iOS version but the mode of attack is different The Android version tries to gain root access similar to jailbreaking in iOS if it fails it asks the user for permissions that enable it to harvest at least some data At the time Google said that only a few Android devices had been infected 35 Pegasus hides itself as far as is possible and self destructs in an attempt to eliminate evidence if unable to communicate with its command and control server for more than 60 days or if on the wrong device Pegasus can also self destruct on command 35 If it is not possible to compromise a target device by simpler means Pegasus can be installed by setting up a wireless transceiver near a target device or by gaining physical access to the device 36 Development of capabilities edit The earliest version of Pegasus which was identified in 2016 relied on a spear phishing attack which required the target to click a malicious link in a text message or email 36 As of August 2016 according to a former NSO employee the U S version of Pegasus had 1 click capabilities for all phones apart from old Blackberry models which could be infiltrated with a 0 click attack 37 In 2019 WhatsApp revealed Pegasus had employed a vulnerability in its app to launch zero click attacks the spyware would be installed onto a target s phone by calling the target phone the spyware would be installed even if the call was not answered 36 Since 2019 Pegasus has come to rely on iPhone iMessage vulnerabilities to deploy spyware 36 By 2020 Pegasus shifted towards zero click exploits and network based attacks These methods allowed clients to break into target phones without requiring user interaction and without leaving any detectable traces 38 39 Apple Inc in a lawsuit against US based cybersecurity startup Corellium alleged that it sold its virtualization technology to the NSO group and other such bad actors and actively encouraged them to find 0 day exploits 40 Vulnerabilities edit Lookout provided details of the three iOS vulnerabilities 20 CVE 2016 4655 Information leak in kernel A kernel base mapping vulnerability that leaks information to the attacker allowing them to calculate the kernel s location in memory CVE 2016 4656 Kernel memory corruption leads to jailbreak 32 and 64 bit iOS kernel level vulnerabilities that allow the attacker to secretly jailbreak the device and install surveillance software details in reference 41 CVE 2016 4657 Memory corruption in the webkit A vulnerability in the Safari WebKit that allows the attacker to compromise the device when the user clicks on a link Google s Project Zero documented another exploit dubbed FORCEDENTRY in December 2021 According to Google s researchers Pegasus sent an iMessage to its targets that contained what appeared to be GIF images but which in fact contained a JBIG2 image A vulnerability in the Xpdf implementation of JBIG2 re used in Apple s iOS phone operating software allowed Pegasus to construct an emulated computer architecture inside the JBIG2 stream which was then used to implement the zero click attack Apple fixed the vulnerability in iOS 14 8 in September 2021 as CVE 2021 30860 42 As of July 2021 Pegasus likely uses many exploits some not listed in the above CVEs 31 Pegasus Anonymizing Transmission Network edit Human rights group Amnesty International reported in the 2021 investigation that Pegasus employs a sophisticated command and control C amp C infrastructure to deliver exploit payloads and send commands to Pegasus targets There are at least four known iterations of the C amp C infrastructure dubbed the Pegasus Anonymizing Transmission Network PATN by NSO group each encompassing up to 500 domain names DNS servers and other network infrastructure The PATN reportedly utilizes techniques such as registering high port numbers for their online infrastructure as to avoid conventional internet scanning PATN also uses up to three randomised subdomains unique per exploit attempt as well as randomised URL paths 31 By country editSee also Pegasus Project investigation Although Pegasus is stated as intended to be used against criminals and terrorists 13 it has also been used by both authoritarian and democratic governments to spy on critics and opponents 43 A UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion found that the use of the spyware by abusive governments could facilitate extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions and killings or enforced disappearance of persons 44 Armenia edit About twenty Armenian citizens were spied on via Pegasus spyware Media expert Arthur Papyan said it targeted the key figures of the opposition and the government current and past government employees who knew valuable state secrets and have political influence including the former director of the National Security Service and current chairman of the center right Homeland Party The local experts suspected that they were targeted either by the government of Armenia or Azerbaijan or perhaps both Papyan said that NSO group appears to be jailbreaking a phone and provides interface for viewing the obtained data Minister of high tech industry Vahagn Khachaturyan also received a warning letter from Apple he rejected the theory that the spying party could be the current Armenian government 45 Azerbaijan edit The list needs context of spied upon citizens included dozens of journalists and activists from Azerbaijan It was alleged that their mobile phones were tapped 46 The head of Azerbaijani service of Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe Azadliq Jamie Fly expressed his anger when it was revealed that the phones of his five current and former employees were tapped with Pegasus 47 Bahrain edit Citizen Lab revealed the government of Bahrain used the NSO Group s Pegasus to hack activists bloggers members of Waad a secular Bahraini political society a member of Al Wefaq a Shiite Bahraini political society and members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Bahrain reportedly acquired access to spyware in 2017 As per the report the mobile phones of a total of nine rights activists were successfully hacked between June 2020 and February 2021 Those hacked included three members of Waad three of the BCHR one of Al Wefaq and two of the exiled dissidents who reside in London The Citizen Lab attributed with high confidence that a Pegasus operator LULU was used by the Bahraini government to breach the phones of at least four of the nine activists 48 49 In January 2022 Bahrain was accused of using the Pegasus spyware to hack a human rights defender Ebtisam al Saegh The prominent activist s phone was hacked at least eight times between August and November 2019 As per the Citizen Lab following the hacking attempt al Saegh faced incidents where she was harassed by the Bahrain authorities It included being summoned to a police station interrogation rape threats and physical and sexual assault The attack left the rights defender in a state of daily fear and terror 50 In February 2022 an investigation by Citizen Lab and Amnesty International revealed that the Pegasus spyware was used to infect the devices of a lawyer an online journalist and a mental health counsellor in Bahrain All of the three activists were critical of the Bahraini authorities and were targeted with Pegasus between June and September 2021 One of the three activists remained anonymous while the other two were Mohammed al Tajer and Sharifa Swar mental health counselor 51 In December 2022 an exiled Bahraini activist Yusuf al Jamri filed a lawsuit against the Bahraini government and the NSO Group alleging his phone was hacked using the Pegasus spyware in August 2019 The hacking was confirmed by the Citizen Lab researchers who claimed that the servers that targeted al Jamri were connected to Bahrain 52 53 Yusuf al Jamri fled to the UK with his family in 2017 after facing multiple detentions and episodes of interrogation torture sexual assault and rape threats Experts claimed that he was hacked days after posting tweets about Moosa Mohammed the Bahraini activist who protested the executions in Bahrain and climbed to the roof of the country s embassy in London 52 Djibouti edit In 2018 the U S Central Intelligence Agency purchased Pegasus for the Djibouti government to conduct counter terrorism operations despite Djibouti s poor human rights record 54 Dominican Republic edit In 2023 an investigation by Amnesty International and Citizen Lab found that Nuria Piera a Dominican Republic journalist known for her investigations into corruption in the country was targeted by an unknown actor using Pegasus spyware at least three times between 2020 and 2021 55 Egypt edit Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouly was selected for potential targeting by Pegasus apparently by Saudi Arabia 56 El Salvador edit In January 2022 El Faro a prominent Salvadoran news outlet revealed that a majority of its staff had their phones infiltrated using Pegasus The targeting was uncovered in an investigation conducted by Citizen Lab and Access Now the investigation revealed that the journalists of another 13 Salvadoran news organisations were targeted as well Between July 2020 and November 2021 Pegasus was deployed on the phones of 22 employees of El Faro including reporters editors and other staff At the time of the targeting the El Faro was looking into governmental corruption scandals and the government s clandestine dealings with the country s gangs The Salvadoran government denied responsibility for the espionage and NSO Group declined to reveal whether the Salvadoran government was a client 57 Estonia edit Estonia entered negotiations to procure Pegasus in 2018 and had made a 30 million down payment for the tool Estonia hoped to use the tool against Russian phones presumably for gathering intelligence Israel initially approved the export of Pegasus to Estonia but after a senior Russian defense official approached the Israeli defense agencies and revealed that Russia had learned of Estonia s intentions to obtain Pegasus Israel decided to disallow Estonia from using Pegasus against any Russian phone number following a heated debate among Israeli officials so as to avoid damaging Israeli relations with Russia 58 Estonia gained access to Pegasus spyware in 2019 Citizen Lab has uncovered that Estonia has deployed Pegasus outside its borders against targets in many EU countries 59 Finland edit In January 2022 Finnish foreign ministry reported that several phones of Finnish diplomats have been infected with the Pegasus spyware 60 France edit In July 2021 Le Monde reported that President of France Emmanuel Macron and 14 French ministers were flagged as potential Pegasus targets for Pegasus spying by Morocco Moroccan authorities denied Pegasus use and labelled the allegation as unfounded and false 61 which a consortium of journalists and Amnesty International have demonstrated that there are technical elements that prove listening 62 Germany edit Pegasus is in use by German Federal Criminal Police Office BKA BKA acquired Pegasus in 2019 with utmost secrecy and despite hesitations from its legal council The use of Pegasus by BKA was later revealed by German media 63 Sources from Germany s security services have told journalists that Germany s iteration of Pegasus spyware features built in safeguards to prevent abuse and comply with EU privacy laws however officials have not publicly confirmed or elaborated on this 59 In February 2023 the independent Russian journalist and Putin s critique Galina Timchenko had her iPhone infected with Pegasus while being in Berlin 64 65 59 Hungary edit The government of Viktor Orban authorized the use of Pegasus by Hungarian intelligence and law enforcement services to target the government s political opponents 58 The Orban government has been accused of using it to spy on members of media as well as on Hungarian opposition 66 According to the findings released in July 2021 journalists and managers of media holdings appear to have been spied on by the Hungarian government with Pegasus 67 68 Phone numbers of at least 10 lawyers at least 5 journalists and an opposition politician were included on a leaked list of potential Pegasus surveillance targets 69 In November 2021 Lajos Kosa head of a parliamentary defense and law enforcement committee was the first Hungarian senior official who acknowledged that the country s Interior Ministry purchased and used Pegasus 70 Kosa admitted that Hungary had indeed purchased and used Pegasus stating I don t see anything objectionable in it large tech companies carry out much broader monitoring of citizens than the Hungarian state does 66 India edit Main articles Pegasus Project revelations in India and WhatsApp snooping scandal 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 71 72 73 17 individuals including human rights activists scholars and journalists confirmed to an Indian publication they had been targeted 74 Phone numbers of Indian ministers opposition leaders ex election commissioners and journalists were allegedly found on a database of NSO hacking targets by Pegasus Project in 2021 75 76 77 Phone numbers of Koregaon Bhima activists who had compromising data implanted on their computers through a hack found on a Pegasus surveillance phone number list 78 Independent digital forensic analysis conducted on 10 Indian phones whose numbers were present in the data showed signs of either an attempted or successful Pegasus hack The results of the forensic analysis threw up shows sequential correlations between the time and date a phone number is entered in the list and the beginning of surveillance The gap usually ranges between a few minutes and a couple of hours 79 11 phone numbers associated with a female employee of the Supreme Court of India and her immediate family who accused the former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment were also allegedly found on a database indicating possibility of their phones being snooped 80 81 Records also indicate that phone numbers of some of the key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time when an intense power struggle was taking place between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal Secular Congress led state government in 2019 82 83 Iraq edit The phone of Iraqi President Barham Salih was found on a list of potential Pegasus surveillance targets however actual targeting attempted or successful could not be determined 84 The targeting of Salih appeared to have been linked to Saudi Arabia and UAE 56 Israel edit Israeli police useIn January 2022 it was reported that Pegasus was unlawfully used by the Israeli Police to monitor citizens as well as foreign nationals who were accidentally or intentionally infected by the software 85 The surveillance was ordered by high ranking police officers and was carried out without warrants or judicial supervision 86 The legal basis for use of spyware against citizens is disputed 87 88 The police had allegedly targeted civilians not suspected of any crime including organisers of antigovernmental protesters mayors anti LGBT parade activists employees of government owned companies an associate of a senior politician 87 and former government employees 86 In one case it was alleged that police targeted an activist who was not suspected of a crime allegedly to gather information about the activist s extra marital affairs and use it as leverage 87 In some cases Pegasus was used to obtain information unrelated to an ongoing investigation to be used later to pressure the subject of an investigation In some cases police used Pegasus to obtain incriminating information from suspects devices and then concealed the source of the incriminating information claiming it would expose intelligence assets 89 While the Israeli Police formally denied the allegations in the report some senior police officials have hinted that the claims were true 90 The report led to the announcement of a number of parallel investigations into the police s conduct 91 with some officials demanding a Commission of inquiry 92 Although the Attorney General launched an internal probe into the allegations 93 the Privacy Protection Council which advises the Minister of Justice 94 demanded that a state commission of inquiry be created 92 On February 1 the police admitted that there was in fact misuse of the software 95 On February 7 the widespread extent of the warrantless surveillance was further revealed to have included politicians and government officials heads of corporations journalists activists and even Avner Netanyahu he the son of then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu This has led to renewed calls for a public inquiry including from the current police commissioner Kobi Shabtai himself appointed January 2021 as well as from the Minister of the Interior Ayelet Shaked and others 96 Later in the day the Minister of Public Security the minister responsible for the police Omer Bar Lev announced that he would be forming a commission of inquiry to be chaired by a retired judge Bar Lev stressed that this commission will essentially be granted all the powers of a state commission whose formation requires full cabinet support including having the authority to subpoena witnesses regardless of seniority whose testimony may be used in future prosecutions 97 Despite this calls for a state commission persisted from several ex ministry heads who were targeted The next day the State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman calling the crisis a trampling on the values of democracy and privacy said that the investigation launched by his office will also be extensive adding that it will not only include the police but also the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney s Office 98 In September 2023 Apple issued an emergency software patch after it was warned that Israel s NSO Group had injected its Pegasus spyware remotely and surreptitiously on to iPhones and iPads 99 Jordan edit Between August 2019 and December 2021 Apple phones of four Jordanian human rights activists lawyers and journalists were hacked by a NSO government client apparently Jordanian government agencies The Jordanian government denied involvement 100 In January 2022 it was revealed that Jordanian lawyer and activist Hala Ahed Deeb s phone was targeted with Pegasus 101 Kazakhstan edit Activists in Kazakhstan were targeted 102 in addition to top level officials like Kassym Jomart Tokayev Askar Mamin and Bakytzhan Sagintayev Among the 2000 targeted Kazak numbers were government critic Bakhytzhan Toregozhina as well as journalists Serikzhan Mauletbay and Bigeldy Gabdullin 103 104 Most of these victims were involved in a civic youth movement Oyan Qazaqstan 105 Latvia edit Citizen Lab first noted the use of Pegasus in Latvia in 2018 Citizen Lab believes Pegasus is still being used by Latvia as of 2023 59 In February 2023 the iPhone of Galina Timchenko Russian journalist and co founder of the Latvia based Russian news publication Meduza was infected with Pegasus Timchenko received a notification about a state sponsored attack against her device from Apple with experts from Citizen Lab and Access Now subsequently confirming that the device had indeed been compromised with Pegasus with the attacker having gained full access to the device The attack occurred the day before a conference of exiled independent Russian media in Berlin which Timchenko attended her phone could have been used to evesdrop on the journalists conversations during the conference This attack is the first confirmed instance of Pegasus being used against a Russian journalist It is unclear which state carried out the attack a European intelligence agency have also sought to surveil prominent Russian expatriots and while NSO Group does not export Pegasus to Russia a third country could also have carried out the attack on Russia s behest Timchenko was in Germany during the attack but had a phone with a Latvian sim card 59 The Guardian subsequently ascertained that three other Russian expatriot journalists with Latvian phone numbers also received notifications about state sponsor attacks against their devices from Apple as well as one additional Russian journalist with a non Latvian phone number 106 Mexico edit According to the New York Times Mexico has been the first and most prolific user of Pegasus 107 Mexico was the first country to purchase Pegasus 108 seeing it as a novel tool in the country s struggle against drug cartels Mexican authorities also sought to cultivate autonomous intelligence capabilities having hitherto been highly reliant on the United States for intelligence gathering capabilities 107 Early versions of Pegasus were used to surveil the phone of Joaquin Guzman known as El Chapo In 2011 Mexican President Felipe Calderon reportedly called NSO to thank the company for its role in Guzman s capture 109 110 Within years authorities began to use Pegasus to target civil society including human rights advocates anti corruption activists and journalists 107 When a list of 50 000 phone numbers of potential Pegasus surveillance targets selected by individual client governments was leaked in 2021 a third of them were Mexican 108 President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who took office in 2018 had pledged to halt the use of the spyware by Mexican authorities nonetheless reports of use and abuse of Pegasus have continued throughout his presidency including an opposition politician After federal police and intelligence agency reforms by the Obrador government the Mexican military became the sole Pegasus user in 2019 The Mexican armed forces have been a prolific user of Pegasus 107 The Mexican armed forces have taken on an ever more prominent role during Obrador s presidency and may have grown into an independent power center capable of autonomously spying on civilian detractors and critics with the government powerless to reign in its abuses 111 112 The military went so far as to target Alejandro Encinas the country s under secretary for human rights and a close ally of President Obrador a prominent critic of the military who was investigating human rights abuses committed by the Mexican military at the time of the targeting as well as other government officials involved in this inquiry 112 As of 2023 Mexico s spending on Pegasus had totaled over 60 million 107 Targeting of scientists and health campaignersIn 2017 Citizen Lab researchers revealed that NSO exploit links may have been sent to Mexican scientists and public health campaigners 113 The targets supported measures to reduce childhood obesity including Mexico s Soda Tax 114 2014 Iguala mass kidnappingIn July 2017 the international team assembled to investigate the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping publicly complained they thought they were being surveilled by the Mexican government 115 They stated that the Mexican government used Pegasus to send them messages about funeral homes containing links which when clicked allowed the government to surreptitiously listen to the investigators 115 The Mexican government has repeatedly denied any unauthorized hacking 115 In 2023 it was revealed that Mexican Army intelligence was using Pegasus to monitor Guerreros Unidos cartel members and police officials in the area at the time of the kidnapping capturing a cartel boss and the police commander discussing where to take the students that night The Army had soldiers on the streets and a local battalion had an informant embedded with the students Intercepted communications days later revealed two suspects talking about releasing students indicating they may still have been alive Despite this the military never shared any of this information with officials searching for the students and there is no evidence to suggest they attempted a rescue 116 Assassination of journalist Cecilio Pineda BirtoCecilio Pineda Birto a Mexican freelance journalist was assassinated by hitmen while resting in a hammock by a carwash Brito had been reporting on the ties between local politicians and criminal organizations and had received anonymous death threats during the weeks preceding the assassination at about the same time his phone number was selected as a possible target for Pegasus surveillance by a Mexican Pegasus client Pegasus spyware may have been used to ascertain Brito s location to carry out the hit by geolocating his phone the deployment of Pegasus on his phone could however not be confirmed as his phone disappeared from the scene of the murder 117 Targeting of presidential candidate ObradorIn the run up to the 2018 Mexican presidential election dozens of close associates of the presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who was subsequently elected were selected as potential targets Potential targets included close family members his cardiologist and members of his personal and political inner circle Recordings of Obrador s conversations with family and party colleagues were subsequently leaked to the public in an attempt to disrupt his electoral campaign 56 Use by Mexican drug cartelsPegasus has been used by drug cartels and cartel entwined government actors to target and intimidate Mexican journalists 118 OtherA widow of slain renowned Mexican journalist was a target of an attempted Pegasus attack 10 days after her husband was assassinated 119 Morocco edit In 2019 two Moroccan pro democracy campaigners were notified by WhatsApp that their phones had been compromised with Pegasus 74 In June 2020 an investigation by Amnesty International alleged that Moroccan journalist Omar Radi was targeted by the Moroccan government using the Israeli spyware Pegasus The rights group claimed that the journalist was targeted three times and spied on after his device was infected with an NSO tool Meanwhile Amnesty also claimed that the attack came after the NSO group updated their policy in September 2019 120 In July 2021 it was revealed that the Moroccan PM Saad Eddine el Othamani and Moroccan King Mohammed VI were selected for targeting apparently by Moroccan state actors themselves 56 According to revelations from July 2021 Morocco had targeted more than 6 000 Algerian phones including those of politicians and high ranking military officials with the spyware 121 122 The Algerian government subsequently severed diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021 citing alleged Moroccan deployment of Pegasus against Algerian officials as one of the hostile actions that undergirded the decision 123 Netherlands edit The Netherlands is a suspected Pegasus user 59 Pegasus spyware was used to spy on Ridouan Taghi a high profile criminal After the murder of the lawyer Derk Wiersum the AIVD Dutch security service was asked to help with the process of catching Ridouan Taghi 124 Panama edit President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli personally sought to obtain cyberespionage tools after his election in 2009 After a rebuff by the U S in 2009 Martinelli successfully sought such tools from Israeli vendors expressing an interest in acquiring a tool capable of hacking into mobile phones in a 2010 private meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu In 2012 NSO systems were installed in Panama City The equipment was subsequently widely used for illicit domestic and foreign spying including for spying on political opponents magistrates union leaders and business competitors with Martinelli allegedly going so far as to order the surveillance of his mistress using Pegasus 5 Palestine edit The mobile phones of six Palestinian activists were hacked using Pegasus with some of the attacks reportedly occurring as far back as July 2020 according to a report from Front Line Defenders 125 Salah Hammouri a French Palestinian human rights defender and one of the six victims of the Pegasus attack has filed a lawsuit against NSO in France accusing the company of a privacy rights violation 100 Poland edit Pegasus licenses were agreed on between Benjamin Netanyahu and Beata Szydlo in July 2017 126 Citizen Lab revealed that several members of political opposition groups in Poland were hacked by Pegasus spyware raising alarming questions about the Polish government s use of the software A lawyer representing Polish opposition groups and a prosecutor involved in a case against the ruling Law and Justice party were also compromised 127 In December 2021 Citizen Lab announced that Pegasus was used against lawyer Roman Giertych and prosecutor Ewa Wrzosek both critical of the ruling Law and Justice PiS government with Giertych s phone suffering 18 intrusions 128 33 hacks to the phone of Krzysztof Brejza a senator from the opposition Civic Platform PO were uncovered 129 and confirmed by Amnesty International 130 Leading to the 2019 European and Polish parliamentary elections Brejza s text messages were stolen as he was leading the opposition parties campaign The texts were doctored by state run media notably TVP and used in a smear campaign against the opposition 130 131 132 This prompted the Polish Senate to begin an inquiry into the deployment of the spyware 133 On January 25 2022 more victims were confirmed by Citizen Lab including Michal Kolodziejczak of the agrarian movement Agrounia and Tomasz Szwejgiert a journalist and alleged former associate of the CBA 134 135 According to the Supreme Audit Office NIK 544 of its employees devices were under surveillance over 7 300 times some could be infected with Pegasus 136 Rwanda edit Political activists in Rwanda have been targeted with Pegasus 137 including the daughter 138 and the nephew 139 of Paul Rusesabagina Saudi Arabia edit In December 2020 it was reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed a zero click iMessage Pegasus exploit against two London based reporters and 36 journalists at the Al Jazeera television network in Qatar 38 39 Jamal KhashoggiPegasus was used by Saudi Arabia to spy on Jamal Kashoggi 140 who was later assassinated in Turkey 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 141 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 death 142 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 143 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 144 In 2021 allegations arose that the software may also have been used to spy on members of Kashoggi s family 145 The wife of Jamal Khashoggi Hanan Elatr intended to sue the NSO Group alleging that she was targeted with Pegasus spyware She also prepared a lawsuit in the US against the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their involvement in the attempts to install the software on her mobile phone Elatr was arrested in Dubai in April 2018 Activity on Etatr s confiscated phone while she was in the custody of UAE intelligence services further suggested that an attempt was made to install the software at that time 146 Targeting of Jeff Bezos Main article Jeff Bezos phone hacking incident Pegasus was also used to spy on Jeff Bezos after Mohammed bin Salman the crown prince of Saudi Arabia exchanged messages with him that exploited then unknown vulnerabilities in WhatsApp 147 148 Targeting of journalist Ben HubbardBen Hubbard a Middle East correspondent for the New York Times revealed in October 2021 that Saudi Arabia used the NSO Group s Pegasus software to hack into his phone Hubbard was targeted repeatedly over a three year period between June 2018 to June 2021 while he was reporting on Saudi Arabia and writing a book about the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Hubbard was possibly targeted for writing the book about the Crown Prince and for his involvement in revealing the UAE s hacking and surveillance attempt of Project Raven Saudis attempted to peek into Hubbard s personal information twice in 2018 one through a suspicious text message and the other through an Arabic WhatsApp message inviting him to a protest at a Saudi embassy in Washington Two other attacks were launched against him in 2020 and 2021 using the zero click hacking capabilities Lastly on June 13 2021 an iPhone belonging to Hubbard was successfully hacked using the FORCEDENTRY exploit Citizen Lab said in high confidence that the four attacks were attempted using Pegasus 149 150 Other targetsAnother Saudi exile Omar Abdulaziz in Canada was identified by McKinsey amp Company as being an influential dissident and hence had two brothers imprisoned by the Saudi authorities and his cell phone hacked by Pegasus 140 151 In June 2018 a Saudi satirist Ghanem Almasarir was targeted by Saudi Arabia with Pegasus software The targeting and hacking of Almasarir s phone by a network linked to Saudi Arabia was confirmed by researchers at the Citizen Lab On 28 May 2019 the letter of claim was delivered to the Saudi embassy in London on behalf of Ghanem Almasarir In August 2022 a British judge ruled that the prominent dissident in London can sue Saudi Arabia for Pegasus hacking 152 South Africa edit South African president Cyril Ramaphosa was revealed to have been selected as a potential target of Pegasus surveillance possibly by the Rwandan state 56 Spain edit Use against Catalan and Basque officials and independence proponents edit According to an investigation by The Guardian and El Pais Pegasus software was used by the government of Spain to compromise the phones of several politicians active in the Catalan independence movement including President of the Parliament of Catalonia Roger Torrent and former member of the Parliament of Catalonia Anna Gabriel i Sabate 153 The scandal resurfaced in April 2022 following the publication of a report of a CitizenLab investigation that revealed widespread use of Pegasus against Catalan politicians and citizens as well as Basque politician Arnaldo Otegi and MP Jon Inarritu 154 155 A total of 63 victims was identified 156 with targets including elected officials including high ranking ones and civil society members including activists journalists lawyers and computer scientists 154 The true extent of the targeting was potentially far larger as Android devices are far more common in Spain while CitizenLab tools are specialised to uncover infiltration of Apple devices Citizen Lab did not attribute the responsibility for the attacks to any perpetrators but did note that circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the attacks were perpetrated by the Spanish Government 156 On May 5 2022 the Spanish Defense Minister admitted to surveillance of 20 people involved in the Catalan independence movement 157 Use against Spanish government officials edit In May 2022 the Spanish Government revealed that the smartphones of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles had been targeted by Pegasus in May 2021 158 Prime Minister Sanchez s device was infected twice and Robles device was infected once A total of over 2 7GB of data was exfiltrated from the PM device while only 9MB of data was extracted from the Defense Minister s device 159 The espionage is as of today denied yet attributed to Moroccan entities given the diplomatic tensions between the two at the time of the target Thailand edit According to a report by Citizen Lab and Digital Reach at least 30 political activists and government critics from Thailand were affected by the spyware A spokesperson for the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society stated his ministry was not aware of any Pegasus usage by the government A researcher from Citizen Lab has said that while 30 targets were confirmed definitively they expect the actual number to be much higher 160 Tibet edit Senior advisers of the Dalai Lama who does not carry a personal phone himself Tibet s president in exile staff of a prominent Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader Gyalwang Karmapa as well as several other Tibetan activists and clerics all of whom are living in exile in India were selected for potential targeting by Pegasus likely by the Indian government 161 Togo edit A joint investigation by The Guardian and Le Monde alleged that Pegasus software was used to spy on six critics of the government in Togo 137 Uganda edit It has been reported that Muhoozi Kainerugaba brokered a deal to use Pegasus in Uganda paying between 10 and 20 million in 2019 The software was later used to hack the phones of 11 US diplomats and employees of the US embassy in Uganda some time during 2021 162 Ukraine edit At least since 2019 Ukraine had sought to obtain Pegasus in its effort to counter what it saw as an increasing threat of Russian aggression and espionage however Israel had imposed a near total ban on weapons sales to Ukraine which also encompassed cyberespionage tools wary of selling Pegasus to states that would use the tool against Russia so as not to damage relations with Russia In August 2021 at a time when Russian troops were amassing on the Ukrainian border Israel again rebuffed a request from a Ukrainian delegation asking to obtain Pegasus according to a Ukrainian official familiar with the matter Pegasus could have provided critical support in Ukraine s effort to monitor Russian military activity In the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Ukrainian officials rebuked Israel s tepid support of Ukraine and Israeli efforts to maintain amicable relations with Russia 58 United Arab Emirates edit In December 2020 it was reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed a zero click iMessage Pegasus exploit against two London based reporters and 36 journalists at the Al Jazeera television network in Qatar 38 39 Qatar hired Israeli based cybersecurity firm Sdema Group in exchange of million euro contract for providing security at the 2022 World Cup soccer championship in Qatar 163 The United Arab Emirates used Pegasus to spy on the members of Saudi backed Yemeni government according to an investigation published in July 2021 The UAE used the spyware to monitor and spy on the ministers of the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi including Yemeni president and his family members former Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Dagher former Foreign Minister Abdulmalik Al Mekhlafi and current Minister of Youth and Sports Nayef al Bakri 164 In August 2021 Amnesty International confirmed that David Haigh a prominent British Human Rights lawyer and founder of Human Rights NGO Detained International was the first British person to have evidence on his mobile phone that it had been hacked by NSO spyware 165 It is believed the illegal hacking was carried out in August 2020 by the government of Dubai At the time of the infection David Haigh was the lawyer representing Dubai Princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum who was being held hostage and he was assisting Princess Haya bint Hussein and her legal team as well 166 Haigh had been exchanging videos and text messages in secret for more than a year and a half with Princess Latifa through a phone that had been smuggled into the Dubai villa where she was being held She stopped responding on July 21 2020 according to a screenshot of the messages Haigh shared The analysis shows that Haigh s phone was hacked two weeks later 167 On 24 September 2021 The Guardian reported that the telephone of Alaa al Siddiq executive director of ALQST who died in a car accident in London on 20 June 2021 was infected with the Pegasus spyware for 5 years until 2020 Citizen Lab confirmed that the Emirati activist was hacked by a government client of Israel s NSO Group The case represented a worrying trend for activists and dissidents who escaped the UAE to live in the relative safety but were never out of the reach of Pegasus 168 In October 2021 the British High Court ruled that agents of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum used Pegasus to hack the phones of his ex wife Princess Haya bint Hussein her solicitors including baroness Fiona Shackleton a personal assistant and two members of her security team in the summer of 2020 The court ruled that the agents acted with the express or implied authority of the sheikh he denied knowledge of the hacking The judgment referred to the hacking as serial breaches of UK domestic criminal law in violation of fundamental common law and ECHR rights interference with the process of this court and the mother s access to justice and abuse of power by a head of state NSO had contacted an intermediary in August 2020 to inform Princess Haya of the hack and is believed to have terminated its contract with the UAE 169 On 7 October 2021 the NSO Group stated that it had terminated its contract with the UAE to use its Pegasus spyware tool after the ruling by UK s High Court that Dubai s ruler misused the firm s Pegasus software to spy on his ex wife and her legal advisers 170 In 2022 sources revealed that a unit of Abu Dhabi s Mubadala Investment Company Mubadala Capital was one of the largest investors in 1 billion Novalpina Capital private equity fund which bought the NSO Group in 2019 Since then Mubadala has been an investor in the firm with its commitment of 50 million acquiring a seat on the committee of largest investors of the equity fund Journalists human rights defenders and the women of Dubai s royal family were traced to have been hacked using the Pegasus spyware during the same time 171 A report by the Citizen Lab revealed that Pegasus spyware linked to an Emirati operative was used to hack into the phones at the Downing Street and the Foreign Office One of the spyware attack on No 10 was on 7 July 2020 which was asserted to have infected the phone of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Besides at least five attacks were identified on Foreign Office phones by UK allies including the UAE between July 2020 and June 2021 172 The UAE was also alleged of hiring a firm to monitor Jeremy Corbyn 173 United Kingdom UK edit In April 2022 Citizen Lab released a report stating that 10 Downing Street staff had been targeted by Pegasus and that the United Arab Emirates was suspected of originating the attacks in 2020 and 2021 174 United States US edit NSO Group pitched its spyware to the Drug Enforcement Administration DEA which declined to purchase it due to its high cost 175 In August 2016 NSO Group through its U S subsidiary Westbridge pitched its U S version of Pegasus to the San Diego Police Department SDPD In the marketing material Westbridge emphasized that the company is U S based and majority owned by a U S parent company An SDPD Sergeant responded to the sales pitch with sounds awesome The SDPD declined to purchase the spyware as it was too expensive 37 In July 2021 it was revealed that the phone numbers of about a dozen U S citizens including diplomats journalists aid workers and dissident expatriates were on a list of prospective targets for Pegasus infiltration however it was not known whether an attack was ever attempted or completed against any of their devices Among the phone numbers discovered on the list were those of the Biden administration s chief negotiator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as well as those of several United Nations diplomats residing in the U S NSO Group has said that Pegasus is not deployed against any device located within the territory of the U S however it has been suggested that U S citizens can become targets when abroad 176 In December 2021 it was reported that Pegasus spyware was found in the preceding months on the iPhones of at least nine U S State Department employees all of whom were either stationed in Uganda or worked on matters related to Uganda 177 Later the same month AP reported that a total of 11 U S State Department employees stationed in Uganda had their iPhones hacked with Pegasus 178 The US government blacklisted the NSO Group to stop what it called transnational repression 179 In January 2022 it was reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had secretly bought the Pegasus spyware in 2019 and had seen a demonstration of Phantom a newer tool capable of targeting American phone numbers The FBI went on to test both tools and considered their use for domestic surveillance in the U S which reportedly led to discussions between the FBI and United States Department of Justice ultimately the FBI decided against using NSO spyware However despite the 2021 decision rejecting use of NSO software Pegasus equipment is still in the FBI s possession at a New Jersey facility 180 181 Responding to the reports FBI officials played down the domestic surveillance aspect of the Pegasus testing instead stressing counter intelligence as their purported main goal A document later obtained by The New York Times clearly showed that the agency weighed using Pegasus and Phantom in domestic law enforcement cases 182 183 L3Harris a U S defense contractor was in talks to acquire NSO Group the maker of Pegasus L3Harris reportedly had the backing of U S intelligence in undertaking the acquisition negotiations After months of negotiations the talks were scuttled after they were made known to the public by the news media in June 2022 with the U S government publicly rebuking the acquisition attempt 54 Yemen edit The forensic analysis of UN independent investigator Kamel Jendoubi s mobile phone revealed on 20 December 2021 that he was targeted using spyware while probing war crimes of Yemen Jendoubi was targeted while he was examining possible war crimes in Yemen Jendoubi s mobile number was also found in the leaked database of the Pegasus Project According to the data Jendoubi was one of the potential targets of one of NSO Group s long time clients Saudi Arabia However NSO spokesperson denied Kamel Jendoubi as any of its client s targets 184 International organizations edit European Union edit In April 2022 according to two EU officials and documentation obtained by Reuters the European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and other European Commission officials had been targeted by NSO s software The commission learned of this after Apple notified thousands of iPhone users in November 2021 that they were targeted by state sponsored hackers According to the same two sources IT experts examined some of the smartphones but the results were inconclusive 185 Pegasus Project editMain article Pegasus Project investigation A leak of a list of more than 50 000 telephone numbers believed to have been identified as those of people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016 became available to Paris based media nonprofit organisation Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International They shared the information with seventeen news media organisations in what has been called Pegasus Project and a months long investigation was carried out which reported from mid July 2021 The Pegasus Project involved 80 journalists from the media partners including The Guardian UK Radio France and Le Monde France Die Zeit and Suddeutsche Zeitung Germany The Washington Post United States Haaretz Israel Aristegui Noticias Proceso Mexico the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Knack Le Soir The Wire 186 Daraj 187 Direkt36 Hungary 188 and Frontline 9 Evidence was found that many phones with numbers in the list had been targets of Pegasus spyware 13 189 However The CEO of NSO Group categorically claimed that the list in question is unrelated to them the source of the allegations can t be verified as reliable one This is an attempt to build something on a crazy lack of information There is something fundamentally wrong with this investigation 190 French intelligence ANSSI confirmed that Pegasus spyware had been found on the phones of three journalists including a journalist of France 24 in what was the first time an independent and official authority corroborated the findings of the investigation 191 On 26 January 2022 the reports revealed that mobile phones of Lama Fakih a US Lebanese citizen and director of crisis and conflict at Human Rights Watch were repeatedly hacked by a client of NSO Group at a time when she was investigating the 2020 Beirut explosion that killed more than 200 people 192 In July 2021 a joint investigation conducted by seventeen media organisations revealed that Pegasus spyware was used to target and spy on heads of state activists journalists and dissidents enabling human rights violations around the world on a massive scale The investigation was launched after a leak of 50 000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets Amnesty International carried out forensic analysis of mobile phones of potential targets The investigation identified 11 countries as NSO clients Azerbaijan Bahrain Hungary India Kazakhstan Mexico Morocco Rwanda Saudi Arabia Togo and the United Arab Emirates The investigation also revealed that journalists from multiple media organizations including Al Jazeera CNN the Financial Times the Associated Press The New York Times The Wall Street Journal Bloomberg News and Le Monde were targeted and identified at least 180 journalists from 20 countries who were selected for targeting with NSO spyware between 2016 and June 2021 193 194 Reactions editNSO Group response edit Responding to August 2016 reports of a targeting of an Arab activist NSO Group stated that they provide authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime although the Group told him that they had no knowledge of any incidents 195 Bug bounty program skepticism edit In the aftermath of the news critics asserted that Apple s bug bounty program which rewards people for finding flaws in its software might not have offered sufficient rewards to prevent exploits being sold on the black market rather than being reported back to Apple Russell Brandom of The Verge commented that the reward offered in Apple s bug bounty program maxes out at 200 000 just a fraction of the millions that are regularly spent for iOS exploits on the black market He goes on to ask why Apple doesn t spend its way out of security vulnerabilities but also writes that as soon as the Pegasus vulnerabilities were reported Apple patched them but there are plenty of other bugs left While spyware companies see an exploit purchase as a one time payout for years of access Apple s bounty has to be paid out every time a new vulnerability pops up Brandom also wrote The same researchers participating in Apple s bug bounty could make more money selling the same finds to an exploit broker He concluded the article by writing It s hard to say how much damage might have been caused if Mansoor had clicked on the spyware link The hope is that when the next researcher finds the next bug that thought matters more than the money 196 Complaints editWhatsApp edit On 20 October 2019 Meta Platforms Inc s WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against Israel s NSO Group for exploiting a bug in its WhatsApp messaging app to install spyware Pegasus that allowed the surveillance of 1400 people in 20 countries including journalists human rights activists and dissidents gives filed in the US Federal Court 197 WhatsApp said it was seeking a permanent demand to block NSO from using its service and asked lawmakers to bar the use of cyberweapons like those NSO Group has sold to governments On 9 January 2023 the Supreme Court of the United States denied the appeal of NSO of the lower court s decision to continue the lawsuit and allowed WhatsApp to pursue its lawsuit against Israel s NSO Group 198 Apple edit On 23 November 2021 Apple announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Israeli cyber company NSO Group and its parent company OSY Technologies for allegedly surveillance and targeting iPhone users with its Pegasus spyware Apple stated that contrary to NSO s claim of targeting terrorists and criminals this spyware has also been used against activists politicians and journalists 199 Apple s statement said the company is seeking a permanent injunction to bar NSO Group from using Apple s software services or devices to prevent further abuse and harm to users 200 Books editOn January 17 2023 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Times of Israel February 8 2022 Srivastava Mehul September 8 2023 Apple issues emergency patch after Pegasus spyware breach Financial Times Retrieved September 8 2023 a b Victim s iPhone hacked by Pegasus spyware weeks after Apple sued NSO the Guardian April 5 2022 Retrieved July 11 2022 Two female activists in Bahrain and Jordan hacked with NSO spyware the Guardian January 17 2022 Retrieved July 11 2022 Pegasus Spyware sold to governments targets activists Archived January 2 2020 at the Wayback Machine 19 July 2021 BBC Kazakhstan Activists tracked by Pegasus angered but not surprised Archived January 21 2022 at the Wayback Machine Almaz Kumenov Jul 21 2021 eurasianet org Who s on the List The Pegasus Project OCCRP Archived from the original on January 8 2022 Retrieved January 21 2022 Kazakhstan Four activists mobile devices infected with Pegasus Spyware Amnesty International December 9 2021 Archived from the original on January 27 2022 Retrieved January 27 2022 Kirchgaessner Stephanie September 25 2023 Russian news outlet in Latvia believes European state behind phone hack The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved September 25 2023 a b c d e Kitroeff Natalie Bergman Ronen April 18 2023 How Mexico Became the Biggest User of the World s Most Notorious Spy Tool The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 14 2023 a b Pegasus spyware Mexico one of the biggest targets DW 07 22 2021 Deutsche Welle July 22 2021 Bergman Ronen January 10 2019 Exclusive How Mexican drug baron El Chapo was brought down by technology made in Israel Ynetnews Ynet Archived from the original on July 25 2019 Retrieved May 15 2019 Bergman Ronen January 11 2019 Weaving a cyber web Ynetnews Archived from the original on July 27 2019 Retrieved May 15 2019 Kitroeff Natalie Bergman Ronen March 7 2023 Spying by Mexico s Armed Forces Brings Fears of a Military State The New York Times a b Kitroeff Natalie Bergman Ronen May 22 2023 He Was Investigating Mexico s Military Then the Spying Began The New York Times Scott Railton John Marczak Bill Guarnieri Claudio Crete Nishihata Masashi February 11 2017 Bitter Sweet Supporters of Mexico s Soda Tax Targeted With NSO Exploit Links Citizen Lab Archived from the original on May 31 2019 Retrieved March 25 2017 Scott Railton John Marczak Bill Guarnieri Claudio Crete Nishihata Masashi February 11 2017 Bitter Sweet Supporters of Mexico s Soda Tax Targeted With NSO Exploit Links The Citizen Lab Archived from the original on May 31 2019 Retrieved June 14 2019 a b c Ahmed Azam July 10 2017 Spyware in Mexico Targeted Investigators Seeking Students The New York Times Kitroeff Natalie Bergman Ronen September 2 2023 Why Did a Drug Gang Kill 43 Students Text Messages Hold Clues The New York Times Retrieved September 2 2023 Revealed murdered journalist s number selected by Mexican NSO client the Guardian July 18 2021 Archived from the original on July 19 2021 Retrieved January 30 2022 It s a free for all how hi tech spyware ends up in the hands of Mexico s cartels TheGuardian com December 7 2020 Archived from the original on February 24 2022 Retrieved January 30 2022 Report Slain Mexican journalist s widow targeted by spyware AP NEWS March 20 2019 Archived from the original on January 30 2022 Retrieved January 30 2022 Kirchgaessner Stephanie June 21 2020 Israeli spyware used to target Moroccan journalist Amnesty claims The Guardian Archived from the original on July 30 2020 Retrieved June 21 2020 Cheref Abdelkader July 29 2021 Is Morocco s cyber espionage the last straw for Algeria Archived from the original on October 1 2021 Retrieved September 18 2021 Pegasus From its own king to Algeria the infinite reach of Morocco s intelligence services Middle East Eye Archived from the original on September 18 2021 Retrieved September 18 2021 Ahmed Hamid Ould August 25 2021 Algeria cuts diplomatic relations with Morocco Reuters Retrieved May 19 2022 AIVD gebruikt omstreden Israelische hacksoftware ook voor hacken Ridouan Taghi AIVD uses controversial Israeli hacking software also for hacking Ridouan Taghi NOS Nieuws in Dutch June 2 2022 Kirchgaessner Stephanie Safi Michael November 8 2021 Palestinian activists mobile phones hacked using NSO spyware says report The Guardian Archived from the original on November 8 2021 Retrieved November 8 2021 Bartkiewicz Artur January 3 2022 Gazeta Wyborcza Jak kupowano Pegasusa dla CBA Gazeta Wyborcza How Pegasus Was Bought for the CBA Rzeczpospolita in Polish Archived from the original on January 7 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 Poland admits purchase of Israeli NSO spyware Independent January 7 2022 Archived from the original on January 10 2022 Retrieved January 8 2022 AP Exclusive Polish opposition duo hacked with NSO spyware AP NEWS December 20 2021 Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 Brejza inwigilowany Pegasusem PiS posluzyl sie podlymi metodami RMF FM in Polish Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 a b Rights group verifies Polish senator was hacked with spyware AP NEWS January 6 2022 Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 AP Exclusive Polish opposition senator hacked with spyware AP NEWS December 23 2021 Archived from the original on January 7 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 Polish Watergate Warsaw accused of using Pegasus to spy on rivals euronews January 5 2022 Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 Senacka komisja ds Pegasusa rozpoczela prace Pierwszymi swiadkami beda eksperci z Citizen Lab Polsat News in Polish January 13 2022 Archived from the original on January 25 2022 Retrieved January 25 2022 Citizen Lab Kolejnych dwoch Polakow szpiegowanych Pegasusem Rzeczpospolita in Polish Archived from the original on January 25 2022 Retrieved January 25 2022 Citizen Lab Dwie kolejne osoby inwigilowane Pegasusem www rmf24 pl in Polish Archived from the original on January 25 2022 Retrieved January 25 2022 Wronski Pawel Tynkowski Marcin February 7 2022 Cyberatak na Najwyzsza Izbe Kontroli Mamy podejrzenie wlamania Pegasusem na trzy telefony Cyber attack on the Supreme Audit Office We have a suspicion of a Pegasus hacking on three phones Gazeta Wyborcza in Polish Archived from the original on February 8 2022 Retrieved February 8 2022 a b WhatsApp spyware attack senior clergymen in Togo among activists targeted the Guardian August 3 2020 Archived from the original on April 6 2022 Retrieved April 18 2022 Kirchgaessner Stephanie July 19 2021 Hotel Rwanda activist s daughter placed under Pegasus surveillance The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved March 20 2023 Kirchgaessner Stephanie Taylor Diane July 18 2022 Nephew of jailed Hotel Rwanda dissident hacked by NSO spyware The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved March 20 2023 a b Benner Katie Mazzetti Mark Hubbard Ben Isaac Mike October 20 2018 Saudis Image Makers A Troll Army and a Twitter Insider The New York Times The Kingdom Came to Canada How Saudi Linked Digital Espionage Reached Canadian Soil The Citizen Lab Toronto October 1 2018 Archived from the original on November 8 2018 Retrieved November 8 2019 Satter Raphael January 25 2019 APNewsBreak Undercover agents target cybersecurity watchdog The Seattle Times via AP News New York Archived from the original on January 26 2019 Retrieved January 26 2019 Updated January 26 Kirkpatrick David D December 2 2018 Israeli Software Helped Saudis Spy on Khashoggi Lawsuit Says The New York Times Archived from the original on December 3 2018 Retrieved December 3 2018 Falconer Rebecca March 24 2019 Israeli firm won t say if it sold Saudis spyware linked to Khashoggi killing Axios Archived from the original on March 25 2019 Retrieved November 9 2019 Saudis behind NSO spyware attack on Jamal Khashoggi s family leak suggests TheGuardian com July 18 2021 Archived from the original on March 21 2022 Retrieved March 21 2022 Jamal Khashoggi s wife to sue NSO Group over Pegasus spyware The Guardian September 22 2022 Retrieved September 22 2022 Burgess Matt January 23 2020 If Saudi Arabia did hack Jeff Bezos this is probably how it went down Wired UK Archived from the original on July 20 2021 Sarkar Debashis January 23 2020 Forensic report reveals Israeli spyware Pegasus behind Jeff Bezos s phone hack Times of India Archived from the original on July 20 2021 New York Times Journalist Ben Hubbard Hacked with Pegasus after Reporting on Previous Hacking Attempts The Citizen Lab October 24 2021 Archived from the original on January 2 2020 Retrieved October 24 2021 Hubbard Ben October 24 2021 I Was Hacked The Spyware Used Against Me Makes Us All Vulnerable The New York Times Archived from the original on October 31 2021 Retrieved October 24 2021 The Kingdom Came to Canada How Saudi Linked Digital Espionage Reached Canadian Soil Archived November 8 2018 at the Wayback Machine By Bill Marczak John Scott Railton Adam Senft Bahr Abdul Razzak and Ron Deibert October 1 2018 British judge rules dissident can sue Saudi Arabia for Pegasus hacking The Guardian August 19 2022 Retrieved August 19 2022 Kirchgaessner Stephanie Jones Sam July 13 2020 Phone of top Catalan politician targeted by government grade spyware The Guardian Archived from the original on February 18 2021 Retrieved January 30 2022 a b Hauek dira Pegasus eta Candiru programekin ustez espiatu dituzten independentistak EITB in Basque April 19 2022 Retrieved April 23 2022 Aduriz Inigo April 19 2022 Unidas Podemos pide a Robles y Marlaska que investiguen el espionaje a dirigentes independentistas Tienen que rodar cabezas ElDiario es in Spanish Retrieved April 23 2022 a b Scott Railton John Campo Elies Marczak Bill Razzak Bahr Abdul Anstis Siena Bocu Gozde Solimano Salvatore Deibert Ron April 18 2022 CatalanGate Extensive Mercenary Spyware Operation against Catalans Using Pegasus and Candiru The Citizen Lab Retrieved April 26 2022 Barry Orla May 5 2022 Pegasus spyware strikes again in Europe The World Spanish prime minister s mobile phone infected by Pegasus spyware government says Reuters May 2 2022 El Gobierno asegura que los moviles de Sanchez y Robles fueron espiados con Pegasus Vozpopuli in Spanish May 2 2022 Retrieved May 2 2022 Pegasus phone spyware used to target 30 Thai activists cyber watchdogs say Reuters July 18 2022 Safi Michael July 22 2021 Dalai Lama s inner circle listed in Pegasus project data The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved March 20 2023 Srivastava Mmehul December 21 2021 The secret Uganda deal that has brought NSO to the brink of collapse ArsTechnica Archived from the original on December 28 2021 Retrieved December 22 2021 Doha like Abu Dhabi also hooked on Israeli technology Intelligence Online August 26 2020 Retrieved August 26 2020 UAE targeted Yemen officials with Israeli Pegasus spyware report Daily Sabah August 4 2021 Archived from the original on August 6 2021 Retrieved August 4 2021 Appendix e Pegasus Forensic Traces per Target Identified in the Aftermath of the Pegasus Project Revelations August 6 2021 Princess Latifa campaigner had phone compromised by Pegasus spyware August 2 2021 THE PEGASUS PROJECT A GLOBAL INVESTIGATION Human rights acitivist and close ally of detained Dubai princess had phone hacked by NSO spyware forensic test finds The Washington Post New evidence suggests spyware used to surveil Emirati activist Alaa Al Siddiq The Guardian September 24 2021 Archived from the original on September 27 2021 Retrieved September 24 2021 Gardner Frank October 6 2021 Princess Haya Dubai ruler had ex wife s phone hacked UK court BBC News Archived from the original on October 6 2021 Retrieved October 6 2021 Pegasus spyware maker ends contract with UAE after UK high court s hacking ruling CNN October 7 2021 Archived from the original on October 13 2021 Retrieved October 7 2021 Wiggins Kaye April 2022 Abu Dhabi state funds were used to buy Israeli spyware group NSO The Financial Times Archived from the original on April 5 2022 Retrieved April 1 2022 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employees AP NEWS December 3 2021 Archived from the original on February 1 2022 Retrieved February 1 2022 Toosi Nahal November 19 2021 Biden s balancing act in the Middle East has a problem Israel POLITICO Archived from the original on December 5 2021 Retrieved December 5 2021 Levenson Michael January 28 2022 F B I Secretly Bought Israeli Spyware and Explored Hacking U S Phones The New York Times The FBI Reportedly Considered Buying Spyware That Could Hack Any Phone in the U S Gizmodo January 28 2022 Archived from the original on January 31 2022 Retrieved January 31 2022 Mazzetti Mark Bergman Ronen May 12 2022 F B I Told Israel It Wanted Pegasus Hacking Tool for Investigations The New York Times Mazzetti Mark Bergman Ronen November 12 2022 Internal Documents Show How Close the F B I Came to Deploying Spyware The New York Times UN backed investigator into possible Yemen war crimes targeted by spyware The Guardian December 20 2021 Archived from the original on January 30 2022 Retrieved 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Guardian August 2 2021 Archived from the original on August 2 2021 Retrieved August 2 2021 Top Human Rights Watch investigator allegedly hacked with Pegasus spyware The Guardian January 26 2022 Archived from the original on January 26 2022 Retrieved January 26 2022 Massive data leak reveals Israeli NSO Group s spyware used to target activists journalists and political leaders globally Amnesty International July 18 2021 Archived from the original on July 18 2021 Retrieved July 18 2021 Priest Dana Timberg Craig Mekhennet Souad Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists activists worldwide The Washington Post Archived from the original on January 2 2020 Retrieved July 20 2021 Tynan Dan August 25 2016 Apple issues global iOS update after attempt to use spyware on activist s iPhone The Guardian Archived from the original on April 18 2019 Retrieved December 21 2016 Brandom Russell August 26 2016 Why can t Apple spend its way out of security vulnerabilities The Verge Archived from the original on December 21 2016 Retrieved December 21 2016 WhatsApp sues Israeli firm over phone hacking claims BBC October 30 2019 US supreme court lets WhatsApp pursue Pegasus spyware lawsuit The Guardian January 9 2023 Mehrotra and Scigliuzzo and Turton Kartikay and Davide and William September 13 2021 Apple fixes flaw exploited by Israeli firm s Pegasus spyware Al Jazeera Nellis Stephen November 24 2021 Apple files lawsuit against NSO Group saying U S citizens were targets Reuters Arthur Charles January 11 2023 Pegasus review The Guardian Retrieved January 17 2023 External links editKaster Sean D Ensign Prescott C December 2022 Privatized espionage NSO Group Technologies and its Pegasus spyware Thunderbird International Business Review 65 3 355 364 doi 10 1002 tie 22321 S2CID 254212426 Rudie JD Katz Zach Kuhbander Sam Bhunia Suman 2021 Technical Analysis of the NSO Group s Pegasus Spyware 2021 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence CSCI pp 747 752 doi 10 1109 CSCI54926 2021 00188 ISBN 978 1 6654 5841 2 S2CID 249929111 Chawla Ajay July 21 2021 Pegasus Spyware A Privacy Killer SSRN 3890657 Israel surveillance exports to survive Pegasus scandal Emerald Expert Briefings 2021 doi 10 1108 OXAN DB263067 S2CID 241381239 Leander Anna March 2021 Parsing Pegasus An Infrastructural Approach to the Relationship between Technology and Swiss Security Politics Swiss Political Science Review 27 1 205 213 doi 10 1111 spsr 12441 S2CID 233971106 Marczak Bill Anstis Siena Crete Nishihata Masashi Scott Railton John Deibert Ron January 28 2020 Stopping the Press New York Times Journalist Targeted by Saudi linked Pegasus Spyware Operator University of Toronto Report hdl 1807 102557 Global Spyware Scandal Exposing Pegasus PBS Frontline January 3 2023 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pegasus spyware amp oldid 1190022621, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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