The embracement of digitalization and thriving towards a virtually led world is true quite an exciting one.
The classical theory of the flipped side of the coin indubitably applies here as the recent news updates verify the face of the uncontrolled growth of technology and its applications.
A bunch of shocking truths and rumors are clouding the present with increasing ambiguity with the recent revelations in the domain of digital spying and privacy.
When the name of the world’s most powerful spyware is associated with this scandal, the topic deserves a detailed study, and the piece intends to deliver what you need to know about the Pegasus.
Pegasus: An Introduction
The intelligence and spy services of Israel have always been a newsmaker, even in the past, gaining a lot of attention.
Pegasus is considered the most powerful spyware, developed by the NSO Group, a renowned Israel-based software concern.
Recently, Pegasus has been put up with allegations of spying on hundreds of politicians, activists, media personnel and journalists, and other celebrities at a global level.
Pegasus is believed to be capable of constantly keeping the target’s cell phone under surveillance, which includes nearly 300 Indian ministers, political leaders, activists, writers, and journalists.
This leaves us to take a more detailed look at the Pegasus and answer more questions associated with it.
The Pegasus story
Before stepping onto Pegasus, knowing what exactly spyware is, is essential. Simply put, spyware is a software inserted into a smartphone or any computer device for the purpose of compiling all the data inside and transfer it to a third party without the knowledge of the owner. Now Pegasus is believed to be the strongest spyware made to date by the NSO Group, which has its own name in the industry.
Many national governments are clients of the NSO Group, which has obtained the services of Pegasus for surveillance purposes, primarily targeting the activities associated with terrorism and so forth. NSO Group only deals with governments and other parallel bodies and trades the software for nearly 70 Lakhs, which can infiltrate a single device.
This untraceable spyware adopts different methods to find its way to a smart device and starts compiling the data by identifying the invisible weak zones of the devices. For example, five years ago, Pegasus spyware targeted the devices by sending a text message or even a mail with a link, providing malware access to the device when someone clicks on it. With the passage of time, an updated version of Pegasus didn’t even require an accidental click on the link by the user but was capable of accessing the device with a mere WhatsApp call. Even the call history can be erased remotely by the spyware, making its presence untraceable.
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The Pegasus scandal
So as an answer to what does the Pegasus malware actually steals from the devices, it can collect anything and everything, right from the device’s horoscope to controlling the functions of the device.
It is indeed like what it sounds like – a Hollywood sci-fi thriller where the imaginations are beyond possibilities.
It is the same reason behind the burning reports of the Pegasus scandal of 2021, which is ruling the current affairs and media.
An investigation ran by a team of journalists around the world has revealed the shocking truths associated with the misuse of spyware.
The allegations are against the governments, which used the spyware to target the devices used by political leaders, media personnel, social activists, etc., which were supposed to target terrorism and associated activities.
Among the nations which are under the scandal, India is also a part, as of the reports submitted by the team of journalists.
As per the report, the Indian government, between the years of 2017-2019, has used the services of Pegasus to keep more than 300 devices owned by political party leaders, social activists, journalists under surveillance.
If proven, it can be viewed as nothing less than a cybercrime committed by one of the superior bodies of the country.
With more investigations and truths coming out, the Pegasus scandal will hopefully run its course soon.
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