Pegasus infection found on Indian journalists’ phones after Apple alert

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Awareness in IT

Context:

The founder editor of The Wire news website, the South Asia editor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Report Project (OCCRP) and other journalists in India were targeted with Pegasus spyware this year, the Security Lab of Amnesty International announced after testing their devices.

About Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents.
Founded in 2006, it specializes in organized crime and corruption.
It publishes its stories through local media and in English and Russian through its website.
The entity was involved in the coverage of Pegasus spyware as well as Panama Papers leak.
The OCCRP conducted research and published a report on the Adani Group (AG).

About Pegasus Spyware

Pegasus is a malware/spyware developed by Israel’s NSO Group.
The spyware suite is designed to access any smartphone through zero-click vulnerabilities remotely.
Once a phone is infiltrated, the spyware can access entire data on that particular phone.
It also has real-time access to emails, texts, phone calls, as well as the camera and sound recording capabilities of the smartphone.

Zero-click exploit

A zero-click exploit refers to malicious software installed on a device without the device owner’s consent.
More importantly, it does not require the device owner to perform any actions to initiate or complete the installation.