How An Israeli Spyware Broke Into Cellphones

Snoopgate! Many WhatsApp users, including journalists & activists from India, fall prey to a massive privacy breach

- Ankit Kumar, Aishwarya Paliwal and Milan Sharma in New Delhi

As complaints about hacking of WhatsApp data by Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli firm NSO Group spiralled on Thursday, the Central government swung into action to “protect people’s right to privacy.”

There was also a political firestorm after the revelation that about two dozen journalists, activists and lawyers in India had been targeted.

Globally, 1,400 was the number of such users, also including diplomats, political dissidents as well as senior government officials.

But the breach was not limited to WhatsApp data alone, reveals an internal Pegasus document reviewed by India Today TV.

“Pegasus could compromise the entire cell data, including that from Skype, Telegram, Viber, SMS, photo, emails, contacts, location, files, browsing history, besides microphone and camera recordings,” it claims.

“Pegasus could be installed using targets’ phone numbers. It can activate targets’ camera and mic to collect data. A person’s phone number is the only requirement to install it. Most common way is through SMS/flash SMS,” the document says. Pegasus worked for governments, also reveals the document.

WHO ARE THE VICTIMS

According to reports, 10 Indian activists confirmed receiving messages from the Facebook-owned chatting app informing them about the alleged spying.

Human rights activist Bela Bhatia and Nihal Singh Rathod a lawyer involved with the Bhima Koregaon case - have confirmed receiving alert by WhatsApp that their phones had been under state-of-the-art surveillance for a two-week period until May 2019, media reports said.