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Pegasus Spyware: Everything one should know

 


Pegasus is a world-leading cyber intelligence technology that allows law enforcement and intelligence organizations to extract critical information from almost any mobile device remotely and surreptitiously.

Veterans of top intelligence agencies created this mind-blowing technology to provide governments with a means to deal with today's highly dynamic cyber battlefield's new communications interception problems.

Pegasus bridges a significant technological gap by collecting new data from mobile devices to provide the most precise and comprehensive data for security operations.

The Root of Pegasus Spyware

Pegasus spyware first acquired the limelight in 2019 when various WhatsApp users, including journalists, activists, academics, and even lawyers, became Pegasus spyware victims.

People allege that the government is carrying out pre-planned cyber-attacks. The conventional argument is that the spyware was created by an Israeli cyber tech company, NSO Group and sold to different governments to track down the terrorists.  

The Pegasus Spyware received significant attention in July 2021 when an Amnesty International investigation report revealed that it was being used to access famous people's personal information without their permission. Some famous personalities are: 

Emmanuel Macron: The president of France.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: The president of Mexico.

Imran Khan: The prime minister of Pakistan.

Rahul Gandhi: The Congress party leader.

Prashant Kishor: An election strategis.

Shishir Gupta: Executive editor at Hindustan Times.


       1.0: Pegasus Architecture 


Data Collection by Pegasus

Once infected with Pegasus Spyware, a device is entirely under the attacker's control.It performs as listening and tracking equipment for the user. The data which Pegasus collects is:

  • Textual: The data includes SMS (Text Messages), Emails, Call history, Contact list, Browsing history, Calendar records and more. 

  • Visual: It includes data like camera's snapshots, photos, and screen capture. 

  • Audio: It collects microphone recordings, intercept calls and surrounding live sound.

  • Files: Every phone contains important files like PDF, DOCS, critical videos and many more.

  • Location: It can track live location.


Benefits of Pegasus

The initial aim for developing the Pegasus was to control the terrorist activities; here are some benefits of Pegasus:

  • Unrestricted access to the target's mobile devices: Agencies can collect information of their target's live location, phone calls, relationships, whenever & wherever they are.

  • Call Interception: They can intercept their target's real-time voice and VoIP calls for future intelligence. 

  • Bridge intelligence gaps: To collect unique types of information like passwords and email addresses, they can use it to deliver the most accurate and complete intelligence.

  • Handle encrypted information and devices: With the help of spyware, they can decrypt or overcome encryption, SSL and other security protections. 

  • Application surveillance: Pegasus is very dangerous because it is untraceable so that agencies can monitor activities on famous applications including Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook and Blackberry Messenger (BBM).

  • Pinpoint target's location: This is very useful in surgical strikes; agencies track their targets to get accurate positioning information using Global Positioning System (GPS).

  • Service provider independence: No cooperation and service provider can track their spyware, so no local Mobile Network Operators (MNO) is needed.

  • Discover virtual identities: They can constantly monitor the device without worrying about frequent switching of virtual identities and replacement of SIM cards.

  • Eliminate unnecessary risks: With the help of digital intelligence, they can eliminate the physical risks of their agents. 


Solutions

Pegasus infection has just a few solutions. Unfortunately, if we want to eliminate the spyware, we'll have to throw away the infected smartphone. We can buy a Pegasus spyware removal software for Android or iPhone, or we can update our apps in time to time intervals, although it's safer if we do it after we replace the device.

A hard reset or Factory Data reset may remove the spyware, but it will not prevent the hackers from taking control of our phone.


                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        By: Vaibhav Mishra

                                    (Tech Intern, WCSF)



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To know more, please visit: https://www.worldcybersecurities.com/ 



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Comments

  1. Vaishakh V Kulkarni7:50 PM

    Pegasus Spyware is new threat to data privacy. There is need to evolve new technologies as to secure database from malwares and spyware attacks.

    ReplyDelete

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