Report: Israeli spyware used to hack phones of journalists, activists

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a military-grade tech software called Pegasus was used to track the phones of 37 journalists, activists and businessmen globally.
• The software was built and being sold by Israeli cyber-surveillance firm NSO group, which was offered to governments for counter terrorism initiatives and tracking criminals.
• The list had over 50,000 phone numbers, according to the report.

In a report by the Washington Post Sunday, a military-grade technology software that was built by an Israeli company was utilized to track the smartphones of 37 journalists, activists, and business executives. The app was aimed to be used by governments for counter terrorism efforts and curbing various criminal activities.

The report revealed that the investigation was spearheaded by the Post alongside 16 other media outlets.

The software, known as Pegasus, was reportedly used against journalists from several news agencies like Bloomberg, CNN, the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Voice of America (US). The report also included other journalists such as those working for Al Jazeera in Qatar, Le Monde in France, and the Financial Times in London.

The list also included two women who were involved in the case of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was killed in October 2018 in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the report claimed.

According to the Post, the 37 people were among the listed 50,000 phone numbers that were collated from nations with a history of undergoing surveillance on people on their homeland. They were also connected with the NSO Group, the Israeli cyber-surveillance firm which developed and marketed the Pegasus technology.

The Post noted that the list did not include details on who were the sources who put the contact numbers. Over 15,000 phone numbers on the list came from Mexico while another bulk was traced from the Middle Eastern nations such as Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The report said that the Paris-based non-profit organization Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International were the ones that provided the list to the media groups.

Source: Business Insider