Pegasus Spyware India: A number of Union ministers in India, from journalists, social activists, and even opposition leaders, are being monitored on their smartphones and WhatsApp profiles through terrifying spyware called Pegasus. What is this spyware actually, how does it monitor. To be safe or what to do, let's find out all the information.
Pegasus Spyware is in the headlines again. The first sensation about this spyware was in 2019. At that time, the phones of many journalists and social workers were hacked, according to WhatsApp. It is a spyware that can hack end-to-end encrypted chats like WhatsApp. Governments in many countries around the world use this tool to hack smartphones. And that's why Pegasus spyware makes headlines every few months.
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On Sunday evening, several popular news websites, including the Guardian and the Washington Post, published reports on how global surveillance is being carried out using Pegasus. The main target of this surveillance was the journalists. Among them are 40 journalists from India. That number is thought to be even larger. But the most frightening thing is that the phones of several Union ministers have also been hacked through Pegasus. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy tweeted that Modi had hacked the phone of cabinet members. And since then, several other opposition leaders, including Derek O'Brien, have claimed that their phones are being hacked. The Badal session of the Lok Sabha has started on Monday. There are also speculations that Pegasus may arise in the context of spyware. Also, the phones of social workers and leaders have been monitored with the help of this terrible Pegasus.
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According to a report published in the Guardian, a total of 10 countries, including India, are using Pegasus spyware to monitor citizens. Meanwhile, as soon as the news came out, India said in a statement that the operation was being carried out on the basis of speculation to corrupt Indian democracy and its institutions. However, India has not denied using Pegasus spyware. The NSO Group, on the other hand, claims in a statement, "When a system is sold to a government, that system is not operated by the company. At the same time, NSO does not have access to customer data.
Pegasus spyware is developed by NSO Group. This is an Israeli company. News of this spyware first surfaced in 2016. It was initially thought that the spyware would only target iPhone users. Apple also sent updates for iOS as soon as the news of this spyware first came out. This update fixes the problem that Pegasus was attacking, Apple said.
However, a year after this incident, it was found out that this spyware is similarly capable of hacking Android phones. Facebook then sued the NSO group for creating Pegasus in 2019. Security experts from social media companies began searching for Pegasus on their own systems. It was later learned that Indian journalists and social workers were being monitored on their phones through this spyware. At this time, WhatsApp warned all the customers who had this spyware on their phones by sending a message.
Why Pegasus in the title again after two years in 2019? Because this spyware has been given the most modern technology hacking tool in the world. Pegasus is in the headlines because this spyware is still used regularly. The NSO group has already acknowledged the existence of Pegasus. But according to the company, they only sell this tool to different governments. Therefore, the company will not be held responsible for any misuse of Pegasus.
How does Pegasus hack smartphones?
The hacking power of this spyware is central to the discussion. If this spyware enters the phone, the user will not be able to understand that his phone has been hacked.
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The phone that will be targeted to inject this spyware will start sending malicious links. Once you click on that link, Pegasus will be installed on the phone automatically. Using apps like WhatsApp, security bugs will also be installed on voice calls. This spyware is so sensitive that it is possible to install this spyware on any phone even with just one missed call. Once this spyware is installed, it will delete that number from the call log, so that the phone user will not know which phone this spyware has been installed on.
What can Pegasus do?
Once Pegasus is installed on a phone, this spyware can fully monitor that phone. Pegasus can even read encrypted chats like WhatsApp. In addition to reading messages, call tracking, what apps the customer is using, location data can be accessed by this spyware. Also, this spyware can watch the video by turning on the video camera of the phone. It can also be heard through the microphone on the phone at any time.
Popular antivirus company Kaspersky wrote about Pegasus in 2017, 'One thing needs to be clarified. We are under full surveillance. Pegasus is modular malware. Once Pegasus is installed on the phone, it installs various modules. After that the work of reading phone messages and emails, listening to calls, taking screenshots, knowing browser history begins. This spyware can monitor all aspects of the phone user's life. Even Pegasus can listen to encrypted audio streams. When sending a message, Pegasus saves it before it is encrypted. On the other hand, when an encrypted message arrives on the phone, Pegasus captures it after it is decrypted.
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In a word, the ultimate surveillance equipment. If the government ever wants to monitor someone's phone, it relies on this spyware tool. But Pegasus does all this work very cleverly. It works so carefully that even if Pegasus is installed on the phone, the user will not understand it in any way.
What is the status of Pegasus at the moment?
Should You Really Be Afraid of This Spyware? Pegasus spyware is not very effective at the moment. However, the way this spyware has hacked many people's phones in the past is still making a fuss. Apple solved all the problems of the system with the iOS 9 update after the first news of this spyware came to light. WhatsApp has also joined hands with Google to address security concerns.
In a word, if your phone has an Android 11 or iOS 14 operating system installed and you use the latest version of WhatsApp app, then you have no reason to worry about Pegasus spyware. However, that doesn't make your phone hack-proof. Companies like the NSO group start hacking phones to find all the security neglect of the phone that even companies like Apple, Google are not aware of. The NSO Group is still actively working. So the possibility of the presence of new tools made for smartphone hacking cannot be ruled out.
Also, you need to know that the price of this type of spyware app is skyrocketing. This spyware worth millions of dollars can only be bought by any government or organization. Earlier, the NSO group said that they only sell spyware to the governments of different countries. The government tries to install this app only on the phones that the people want to monitor. So, if you think there is no reason for the government to monitor you, then you have no reason to worry about Pegasus.
NB: Video Source theguardian
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