Many governments have used spyware against journalists, activists and politicians – Corriere.it

A Israeli software Developed to provide military, police and intelligence officers with the ability to detect and apprehend terrorists and criminals, it has been used illegally by many governments around the world to spy. Thousands of journalists, human rights activists, politicians, religious officials, lawyers.

The revelation comes from 17 global news organizations Guardian And this Washington Post – Those who mobilize their efforts within a federation Pegasus Project, From the name of the software in question.

(Here is an explanation of Pegasus spyware: how it was born, how it spreads and how much it costs)

Among the governments that use this program – sold by a private Israeli company NSO team, Under the strict control of the Israeli Ministry of Defense – will be, According to the Guardian, ThatHungary, Powered by Victor Orban. The Hungarian government has refused to make any mistake.

The only EU government involved in the investigation is the Hungarian government.

Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, India and the United Arab Emirates have been accused of using the software illegally. Rwanda, Morocco and India have refused to use software to control listed phones.

According to Washington Post Report, 37 people related to Jamal Kashogi – A Saudi reporter killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, spying on Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Western intelligence tracks – Pegasus software.

The leak, which led to the investigation, was first approached by Amnesty International and the French press organization Forbidden Stories. 50 thousand phone numbers Who may have spied through the program. It is not possible to know if all the numbers are actually attacked, in order to do so you need to check every cell phone.

Tracked phone numbers are found in 45 countries; More than a thousand mobile phones may have been spied on in Europe alone.

In the coming days, the media affiliated with the Pegasus project will publish the names of some of the potential targets of intelligence, including – according to the Guardian – hundreds of businessmen, religious officials, academics, NGO directors, trade unionists, government officials Ministers, Presidents and Prime Ministers.

Pegasus, after hitting a mobile phone, Allows you to verify all types of information, including the content of messages, photos, emails or phone calls. The program allows you Remote activation of microphones. Claudio Gurneri, head of Amnesty Security Labs, explained that Pegasus once allowed you to read messages from encrypted applications such as Pegasus, WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, and check the status of your mobile phone in real time. …

Among the victims of the intelligence, the phone numbers are included in the list, There are more than 180 journalists Financial Times, CNN, New York Times, France 24, The Economist, Al Jazeera, Mediapart, El Pice, Bloomberg and the Associated Press, Agencies France-Press and Reuters news organizations. Rula Calf, editor of the Financial Times, was among the victims of the intelligence.

It has been confirmed that there are at least two Hungarian journalists from the investigation site Direct36 on the affected phones. Sopolks Bunnie, One of the best Hungarian reporters; An investigative journalist from Azerbaijan, Khadija Ismailova; Siddharth Varadarajan e Paranchoi Kuha Thakurta, Indian reporters of the wire site, were shot while investigating the use of the Indian government in 2018 Narendra Modi, Facebook for online misinformation; Omar Radi, A Moroccan journalist, accused the Rafat government of being a British spy; There is Bradley Hope, Is an American journalist living in London and worked for the Wall Street Journal during his espionage.

There is even phone numbers in the database Of Cecilio Pineta Perto, Was killed after being found by his killers in a car wash. His cell phone was never found, so it is not known if it was infected.

The Israeli company NSO has always argued that after selling the software to carefully selected governments, it no longer has operational control over it, or accesses spy data. Reaching the Federation newspapers, he said the number of mobile phones checked – 50,000 – would be an exaggeration. That list cannot be a list of phone numbers affected by governments using Pegasus. The company only sells its program to the military, police and intelligence agencies 40 countries (They are not mentioned), and says to be very careful to ensure that buyers respect human rights.

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