Pegasus Spyware Detected on Indian Journalists’ Phones Following Apple Warning: Amnesty International Report. The editor of The Wire news website, Siddharth Varadarajan, and another journalist in India were targeted by Pegasus spyware this year, according to Amnesty International’s Security Lab. The lab tested their devices and found evidence of the spyware. The journalists got an alert from Apple warning them about “state-sponsored hacking.” In response, they gave their phones to Amnesty for testing. NSO Group, the company behind Pegasus spyware, only sells it to governments, and India’s Intelligence Bureau imported hardware from NSO Group in 2017, according to trade data.
The Washington Post reported that in October, government officials pressured Apple to give alternative explanations to the public about why security alerts were sent to Opposition leaders and journalists. Union Ministers and Apple made misleading statements, like claiming the messages had gone out in 150 countries, even though citizens from other countries had not reported receiving such warnings.
Pegasus spyware, which the Union government has not explicitly denied buying or using, allows attackers to extract all smartphone contents. It exploits software weaknesses known to a select few hackers and is sold for millions of dollars. These “zero day exploits” let attackers access data on fully updated phones and real-time camera and microphone data. Privacy activists argue that this technology is unconstitutional surveillance.
According to the Forbidden Stories collective, dozens of Opposition leaders, journalists, and activists were targeted by Pegasus until 2021. Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, head of the Security Lab, said, “Targeting journalists for doing their work is an unlawful attack on their privacy and violates their right to freedom of expression. All states, including India, have an obligation to protect human rights by safeguarding people from unlawful surveillance.”
Pegasus Spyware Detected on Indian Journalists’ Phones
Amnesty stated, “The recovered samples are consistent with the NSO Group’s BLASTPASS exploit, publicly identified by Citizen Lab in September 2021 and patched by Apple in iOS 16.6.1 (CVE-2023-41064),” referring to a vulnerability patched by Apple in September. Both Varadarajan and Anand Mangnale, South Asia Editor at the Organised Crime and Corruption Report Project (OCCRP), had spyware infecting their phones this year. OCCRP reported last year that the Intelligence Bureau obtained Pegasus, citing trade data later verified.
“A day after Apple warned independent Indian journalists and opposition party politicians in October that government hackers may have tried to break into their iPhones, officials under Prime Minister Narendra Modi promptly took action — against Apple.” https://t.co/Zig8XLLP5T
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) December 28, 2023
Ten months later, Mangnale’s phone was infected. The day before, he had sent queries to the Adani group for an investigative story about the corporate group. Varadarajan’s phone was found infected on October 16. Both men received alerts from Apple in October saying their phones were targeted by “state-sponsored attackers.”
The Union government claimed to be investigating these alerts, sent to numerous Opposition Members of Parliament. Reportedly, the Union government sought Pegasus alternatives after global scrutiny of NSO Group’s activities. However, the continued use of the spyware has now come to light. The Defence Intelligence Agency’s Signal Intelligence Directorate has purchased equipment from Cognyte, a company sued in the United States on similar snooping grounds.
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