Pegasus Project revelations in India

In India, the Pegasus Project investigations alleged that the Pegasus spyware was used on ministers, opposition leaders, political strategist and tacticians, journalists, activists, minority leaders, Supreme court judges, religious leaders, administrators like Election Commissioners and heads of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).[1][2][3] Some of these phones were later digitally & forensically analysed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab on 10 Indian phones and the analysis showed signs of either an attempted or successful Pegasus hack.[4][5] However, the Supreme Court of India stated that the technical committee had found 'malware' in 5 of the 29 phones, but not able to say conclusively that the malware found was Pegasus. The Chief Justice also mentioned that the government refused to cooperate in the investigation.[6]

The Pegasus Project was a collaborative investigative journalism initiative undertaken by 17 media consortium.[7] Pegasus is a spyware developed by the NSO Group, an Israeli technology and cyber-arms firm that can be secretly deployed on mobile phones and other devices, which run most versions of Android and iOS.[8][9] Pegasus is capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, location tracking, accessing the target device's microphone and camera, and harvesting information from apps.[10] Since Pegasus is classified as cyber-arms by the Israeli government, only national governments can purchase the spyware after the authorisation of the Israeli government.[11]

The Pegasus Project initiative investigated the use of the Pegasus spyware by governments on journalists, opposition politicians, activists and business people. A target list consisting of 50,000 phone numbers, which could have been possibly targeted by the spyware, leaked to Forbidden Stories which spawned this investigation.[12] 300 of these numbers were from India.[13] The presence of a phone number on the list does not confirm the use of Pegasus and only forensic examination of a phone can confirm if the spyware was present.[5] Supreme court appointed a technical committee and asked to submit the phones for investigation of those individuals who suspect snooping by the government.[14]

Rahul Gandhi, a prominent opposition leader in India from the Indian National Congress
  1. ^ "Phones Of Indian Politicians, Journalists Hacked Using Pegasus: 10 Facts On Report". NDTV.com. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Pegasus spyware used to 'snoop' on Indian journalists, activists". The Hindu. 19 July 2021. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Phones of 2 Ministers, 3 Opp leaders among many targeted for surveillance: report". The Indian Express. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Pegasus: Rahul Gandhi, Prashant Kishor among those allegedly targeted". Business Standard India. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Snoop List Has 40 Indian Journalists, Forensic Tests Confirm Presence of Pegasus Spyware on Some". The Wire. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. ^ Staff, The Wire (25 August 2022). "Pegasus: Malware Found in 5 Phones, Government 'Refused to Cooperate' With Probe, Says CJI". The Wire. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Pegasus Project: 14 World Leaders in Leaked Database". The Wire. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  8. ^ "Forensic Methodology Report: How to catch NSO Group's Pegasus". www.amnesty.org. 18 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Despite the hype, iPhone security no match for NSO spyware". Washington Post. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Opinion | An Israeli tech firm is selling spy software to dictators, betraying the country's ideals". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Given India's Military Ties With Israel, Modi Would Have Had No Problem Acquiring Pegasus". The Wire. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Revealed: leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon". the Guardian. 18 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Pegasus Project: Leaked database includes 300 Indian phone numbers". The Financial Express. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Pegasus Snooping : SC-Appointed Technical Committee Seeks Details From Persons Suspecting Hacking Of Their Devices". www.livelaw.in. 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.