The Dhaka Times Desk An Israeli company has sold phone spyware to governments to secretly monitor the phones of human rights activists, journalists, politicians and lawyers around the world.
Israeli company NSO Group has reportedly bought this spyware to secretly monitor 50,000 phones of its customers. News from BBC Bengal.
This list and the investigative report on it are handed over to some of the leading media outlets around the world.
The results of this investigation have been published simultaneously by 16 media including The Guardian of London. However, it is not yet clear how many phones have been hacked in how many countries.
The Israeli company that sold the malware has denied the allegations. They say they only sell the software to the military, law enforcement or intelligence agencies of countries with good human rights records.
The Guardian, Washington Post, Le Monde and 14 other newspapers published details about this spyware called Pegasus. India's news portal The Wire also reported that at least 300 politicians, journalists, rights activists and scientists are on the hacking list. The list also includes the names of the two founding journalists of this portal, The Wire said in a statement.
However, the complete list is yet to be released. However, the media involved in this investigation say that they have already learned the names of at least 1,000 people from 50 countries. Among them are the heads of state of different countries, politicians, businessmen, rights activists and some members of several royal families of Arab countries.
More than 180 journalists including CNN, Al Jazeera and New York Times are on this list. Most of these illegal surveillance incidents took place mainly in 10 countries - India, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Rwanda, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
When contacted as part of the investigation, these countries' spokesmen denied using Pegasus and illegally conducting surveillance. The detailed list of whose phones have been hacked using Pegasus in certain countries will be released in the next few days.
What exactly is this Pegasus spyware and how it works
According to the British daily The Guardian, Pegasus is probably the most powerful spyware developed by a private company. This malware is fully capable of secretly monitoring iOS or Android-powered phones.
According to a detailed report by The Guardian, if Pegasus somehow managed to get into your phone, the malware would have the ability to unknowingly turn the phone into a 24-hour surveillance device.
Then no matter how many messages or pictures you send or receive from that phone, Pegasus will copy it and smuggle it secretly. It sends it to certain places. This spyware can also record your phone conversations without you noticing, and even secretly record your videos using the phone's camera! Pegasus is also believed to know where you are, where you've been, or who you've met.
In 2016, researchers learned about the first version of Pegasus, The Guardian reported. At that time, a text message or email was sent to a specific person's phone, which also contained a link. Clicking on that link would allow Pegasus to take control of the phone. However, NSO Group has made this spyware's capabilities many times stronger.
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