Dirty Tricks by State

FT editor among 180 journalists identified by clients of spyware firm https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/ft-editor-roula-khalaf-among-180-journalists-targeted-nso-spyware 20 Jul 2021  

Data leak and forensics suggest NSO’s surveillance tool used against journalists at some of world’s top media companies

It is not possible to know conclusively whether phones were successfully infected with Pegasus without analysis of devices by forensic experts.

Amnesty International’s Security Lab, which can detect successful Pegasus infections, found traces of the spyware on the mobile phones of 15 journalists who had agreed to have their phones examined after discovering their number was in the leaked data.

Among the journalists confirmed by analysis to have been hacked by Pegasus were Siddharth Varadarajan and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a co-founder and a reporter at the Indian news website the Wire. Thakurta was hacked in 2018 while he was working on an investigation into how the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi was using Facebook to systematically spread disinformation among Indian people online.

Pegasus project turns spotlight on spyware firm NSO’s ties to Israeli state

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/pegasus-project-turns-spotlight-on-spyware-firm-nso-ties-to-israeli-state

“As a matter of policy, the state of Israel approves the export of cyber products exclusively to governmental entities, for lawful use, and only for the purpose of preventing and investigating crime and counter-terrorism, under end-use/end-user certificates provided by the acquiring government,” 

In the case of Saudi Arabia, sources familiar with the matter said the kingdom was temporarily cut off from using Pegasus in 2018, for several months, following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but was allowed to begin using the spyware again in 2019 following the intervention of the Israeli government.

It is unclear why the Israeli government urged NSO to reconnect the surveillance tool for Riyadh.

However, the 10 countries that the forensic analysis for the Pegasus project suggests have actually been abusing the technology all enjoy trade relations with Israel or have diplomatic ties with the country that have been improving markedly in recent years.

In two NSO client countries, India and Hungary, it appears governments began using the company’s technology as or after their respective prime ministers met the then Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in high-profile encounters intended to boost trade and security cooperation.

Prime Time With Ravish Kumar: Understanding The Chronology Of The Pegasus Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcQVlv_pXAE Jul 20, 2021  In India, The Wire reported, several of these phone numbers were added to the list between 2017 and 2019, and in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election. 

Some targets.. eg Prahlad Patel.. Ashwini Vaishnav, Ashok Lavasa, ..

https://youtube/com/embed/0OWw8IEj9oQ?start=842&end=1343  In the light of Pegasus having targeted politicians, journalists, and activists, Shekhar Gupta explains how such hacking is carried out and who is among those who have been targeted