Developed by Israeli cyber intelligence NSO Group — known for its expertise in creating specialised cyber weapons — Pegasus is a highly sophisticated surveillance tool. It got widespread attention in 2019 when WhatsApp alerted several users that a spyware had compromised their phones.
WhatsApp, Amnesty International and others sued NSO in the US in 2019, but Pegasus was reportedly used as early as 2016, when an Arab human rights activist’s iPhone was hacked. Within days, Apple released an iOS update that reportedly patched the vulnerability targeted by Pegasus.
Pegasus is in the middle of a massive controversy again with an international media collaboration reporting an unidentified agency may be targeting journalists and others for surveillance with it. Among the 50,000 phone numbers found on a potential list for surveillance, 40 are of Indian journalists.