The Pegasus Project -- A global investigation -- Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones

"The Pegasus Project*: A global investigation Private Israeli spyware used to hack cellphones of journalists, activists worldwide

Military-grade spyware licensed by an Israeli firm [NSO Group] to governments for tracking terrorists and criminals was used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists, business executives and two women close to murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to an investigation by The Washington Post and 16 media partners..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...re-pegasus-cellphones/?itid=hp-top-table-main

* "The Pegasus Project, an investigation by The Washington Post and 16 other news organizations in 10 countries, was coordinated by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories and advised by Amnesty International. Those two groups had access to a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers that included surveillance targets for clients of the Israeli spyware company NSO Group, which they shared with the journalists. Over the past several months, the journalists reviewed and analyzed the list in an effort to learn the identities of the owners of the phone numbers and to determine whether their phones had been implanted with NSO’s Pegasus spyware..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/18/what-to-know-spyware-pegasus/

 

Viktor Orbán using NSO spyware in assault on media, data suggests

https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...nso-spyware-in-assault-on-media-data-suggests

 

"Despite the hype, iPhone security no match for NSO spyware...

...And all of this can happen without a user even touching her phone or knowing she has received a mysterious message from an unfamiliar person...These kinds of “zero-click” attacks, as they are called within the surveillance industry, can work on even the newest generations of iPhones, after years of effort in which Apple attempted to close the door against unauthorized surveillance — and built marketing campaigns on assertions that it offers better privacy and security than rivals...

Researchers have documented iPhone infections with Pegasus dozens of times in recent years, challenging Apple’s reputation for superior security when compared with its leading rivals, which run Android operating systems by Google...

...the number of times Pegasus was successfully implanted on an iPhone underscores the vulnerability of even its latest models. The hacked phones included an iPhone 12 with the latest of Apple’s software updates..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/19/apple-iphone-nso/

 

"Amazon shuts down cloud infrastructure linked to Israeli firm NSO

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc’s cloud service, Amazon Web Services, has shut down infrastructure and accounts linked to Israeli surveillance vendor NSO Group, U.S. media group Vice reported on Monday.

The move came after a media investigation showed that software licensed by NSO had been used to hack the smartphones of journalists, government officials and rights activists worldwide, according to the report..."

https://kfgo.com/2021/07/19/amazon-...astructure-linked-to-israeli-firm-nso-report/

 

"Apple under pressure over iPhone security after NSO spyware claims

Amnesty International, which analyzed dozens of smartphones targeted by clients of NSO, said Apple’s marketing claims about its devices’ superior security and privacy had been 'ripped apart' by the discovery of vulnerabilities in even the most recent versions of its iPhones and iOS software...

'Thousands of iPhones have potentially been compromised,' said Danna Ingleton, deputy director of Amnesty’s tech unit.'...

Security researchers said Apple could do more to tackle the problem by working with other tech companies to share details about vulnerabilities and vet their software updates.

'Apple unfortunately does a poor job at that collaboration'..."

https://arstechnica.com/information...ver-iphone-security-after-nso-spyware-claims/

 

NSO Says ‘Enough Is Enough,’ Will No Longer Talk to the Press About Damning Reports
July 21, 2021
https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article...onger-talk-to-the-press-about-damning-reports

 

Amnesty stands by Pegasus research, dismisses 'false rumours'
July 22, 2021
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2...pegasus-research-dismisses-false-rumours.html

 

Bahraini Activists Targeted Using a New iPhone Zero-Day Exploit From NSO Group

https://thehackernews.com/2021/08/bahraini-activists-targeted-using-new.html

 

"Apple Issues Emergency Security Updates to Close a Spyware Flaw

Apple issued emergency software updates for a critical vulnerability in its products on Monday after security researchers uncovered a flaw that allows highly invasive spyware from Israel’s NSO Group to infect anyone’s iPhone, Apple Watch or Mac computer without so much as a click...

'This spyware can do everything an iPhone user can do on their device and more,' said John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, who teamed up with Bill Marczak, a senior research fellow at Citizen Lab, on the finding..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/technology/apple-software-update-spyware-nso-group.html

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/apple-security-updates.368333/page-10#post-3033492

 

"F.B.I. Secretly Bought Israeli Spyware and Explored Hacking U.S. Phones...

...the F.B.I. bought and tested NSO software for years with plans to use it for domestic surveillance until the agency finally decided last year not to deploy the tools...

The F.B.I...bought the spyware in 2019, despite multiple reports that it had been used against activists and political opponents in other countries. It also spent two years discussing whether to deploy a newer product, called Phantom, inside the United States..

Phantom allows American law enforcement and spy agencies to 'turn your target’s smartphone into an intelligence gold mine'...

Pegasus equipment is still in a New Jersey building used by the F.B.I..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/world/middleeast/israel-pegasus-spyware.html

 

Finnish diplomats targeted by Pegasus spyware: ministry

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-01-finnish-diplomats-pegasus-spyware-ministry.html

 

May 2, 2022
Spanish prime minister's mobile phone infected by Pegasus spyware, government says
https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...phone-infected-by-pegasus-spyware-2022-05-02/

 

EXCLUSIVE EU found evidence employee phones compromised with spyware
https://www.reuters.com/technology/...s-compromised-with-spyware-letter-2022-07-27/