Pegasus spyware getting used to commit horrible human rights abuses, need to be stopped: WhatsApp chief

Pegasus spyware: After an investigation by international media consortium revealed that the NSO Pegasus spyware was getting used to spy on activists and journalists, WhatsApp head Will Cathcart took to Twitter to say that the spyware was getting used to commit horrible human rights abuses, adding that it necessary to be stopped. The investigation report has stated that the spyware is getting made use of as a cyber-surveillance weapon in more than 50 nations, one of which is also India. This has come about two years immediately after WhatsApp had sued Israel-based NSO Group for permitting its Pegasus malware to access users’ devices by exploiting a vulnerability in the immediate messaging app.

Taking to Twitter, Cathcart stated that defenders of human rights, corporations working in the location of tech, as effectively as governments need to work with each other to make sure that the user safety is enhanced, although also holding entities that are abusing Pegasus spyware accountable. He additional referred to as this revelation a wake-up contact for safety on the world wide web, saying that given that smartphones acted as principal computer systems for a lot of customers, they must be made as safe as doable.

Also study | Pegasus Project: Leaked database consists of 300 Indian phone numbers

Back in 2019, Pegasus had been in the news for allegations that it had been used to snoop on activists, journalists, advocates as effectively as senior government officials in 20 nations like India by exploiting a recognized WhatsApp vulnerability, which the enterprise had fixed ahead of it became public. Months immediately after the reporting of this spying, the Facebook-owned messaging platform sued the NSO Group, and also worked with an world wide web watchdog to recognize situations of abusive targeting of journalists and activists, of which it discovered more than a one hundred situations.

Now, Cathcart has stated that this revelation points out that the accurate scale of this abuse was significantly greater.

The new investigation was performed by 16 media organisations from across the world, and was carried out immediately after a huge information leak.

Security researchers have stated that the spyware could be installed on phones by exploiting a prevalent vulnerability, post which information like SMSes, emails and chats from apps like WhatsApp along with GPS information could be sent back to the attacker.

Meanwhile, the NSO Group has stated that Pegasus has only been made to spy on terrorists and criminals, even as the investigations point to the spyware getting used to target intellectuals. The NSO group has also told news agency ANI that the investigation by the consortium was an “international conspiracy”, adding that the list of nations incorporated in these reports was completely incorrect as some nations have been not even customers of the NSO Group. The group added that they only sold the spyware to law enforcement and intelligence agencies of governments immediately after carrying out due diligence.


Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz

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