Spyware used to snoop on mins, oppn, journalists, bizmen: Report

‘Activists Also Among 300 Indians Targeted’

New Delhi: Spyware Pegasus, which is sold by the NSO Group of Israel, may have been used to conduct surveillance on about 300 Indians, including two serving Cabinet ministers at the Centre, three opposition leaders, a Constitutional authority, government officials, scientists and about 40 journalists, according to French media nonprofit, Forbidden Stories, and Amnesty International.

The list also included activists, businessmen and those from the legal fraternity. A number registered in the name of a sitting Supreme Court judge was also on the database, although it was unclear if the judge was still using it for Whatsapp and other messaging services, The Wire, a web portal which was part of the global media project involving 16 other outlets, reported late Sunday evening.

Pegasus linked to snooping for 2nd time

The leaked database of 50,000 phone numbers globally has the names of several Indian journalists. Names of others suspected to have been targeted will be revealed later in the days ahead.

The list of those targeted is in no way exhaustive — or even representative — as it is confined to the analysis of one leaked dataset over a limited time period involving one spyware, Pegasus, according to The Wire.

While the presence of a number on the list indicates a surveillance target, whether a hacking attempt was successful and the phone was infected with Pegasus or not needs to be followed up with digital forensic analysis. Reports said that forensic tests confirmed the targeting of 37 phones, of which 10 — nine iPhones and one Android — were Indian.