Pegasus spyware
2021 OCT 27
Preliminary >
Security > Cyber security > Fundamental rights
Why in news?
- Ruling that the state does not get a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised, the Supreme Court on 27th October appointed a committee comprising three technical members and supervised by its retired judge Justice R V Raveendran to conduct a “thorough inquiry” into allegations of use of Pegasus software for unauthorised surveillance.
About Pegasus:
- Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyberarms firm NSO Group that can be covertly installed on mobile phones (and other devices) running most versions of iOS and Android.
- The 2021 Project Pegasus revelations suggest that the current Pegasus software can exploit all recent iOS versions.
- As of 2016, Pegasus was capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, location tracking, accessing the target device's microphone and camera, and harvesting information from apps.
Use by India
- In 2019, Facebook initiated a suit against NSO, claiming that Pegasus had been used to intercept the WhatsApp communications of a number of activists, journalists, and bureaucrats in India, leading to accusations that the Indian government was involved.
- Phone numbers of Indian ministers, opposition leaders, ex-election commissioners and journalists were allegedly found on a database of NSO hacking targets by Project Pegasus in 2021
Add ons:
- Pegasus was discovered in August 2018 after a failed attempt at installing it on an iPhone belonging to a human rights activist led to an investigation revealing details about the spyware, its abilities etc.
PRACTICE QUESTION:
The word ‘Pegasus’ is sometimes mentioned in media in reference to:
(a) Fossils of a kind of dinosaurs
(b) Hacking software
(c) A cave system found in North-East India
(d) Space exploration
Answer