Israeli-Made Spyware Used to Monitor Journalists and Activists Worldwide
An international investigation found dozens of journalists and activists whose phones were infected with the spyware, which is only sold to governments.
An international investigation found dozens of journalists and activists whose phones were infected with the spyware, which is only sold to governments.
What does the data reveal about surveillance? Who was targeted? Were all these people really hacked?
Traces of NSO Group’s Pegasus software have been found on the mobile phones of journalists and human rights activists around the world. What can it do?
NSO Group’s Pegasus software is infamous for the long list of targets — but it’s just one actor in a secretive ecosystem of private spyware vendors. Here’s where it came from, why it matters, and how it’s part of an industry that “democratizes” access to technology that can ruin lives.
For the first time, forensic evidence shows that powerful Israeli spyware from notorious cyber-surveillance company NSO Group, was used against Azerbaijani journalists. More than 200 names appeared on a leaked list of suspected targets.
Pegasus software made by Israeli firm NSO Group was used to spy on the daughter of imprisoned dissident Paul Rusesabagina, whose actions during the 1994 genocide were dramatized in a 2004 film starring Don Cheadle.
While they were in office, 14 world leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East appear to have been selected for targeting with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. Analysis suggests that, in several cases, the users of the hacking tool were their own governments.
When their children were killed or abducted, the parents of Ayotzinapa relentlessly petitioned their government for truth and justice. But even as they placed their hopes in the federal government, it may have targeted them for invasive surveillance.
Among the apparent targets of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was the biggest nemesis of “Leader of the Nation” Nursultan Nazarbayev — and people surrounding his son-in-law. Also on the list were dozens of loyal government officials.
“It would be way more hurtful to me than my surveillance if I had missed out on reporting on such an important story: uncovering one of the most serious abuses of power in the history of democratic Hungary.”
“My dream was to be on a stage in front of everyone. Now that dream has come true — I’m on stage. But not in the way I had imagined.”
“They might intrude on your privacy, publicize your private life, threaten you or your relatives. It might be an arrest or finally, a killing. This is what being a journalist in Azerbaijan is.”
“I started thinking about what these hackers were able to find out about me through my phone’s data. Were they searching for my sources? Did any of them get into trouble?”