According to media reports, hundreds of journalists, activists and opposition figures around the world have apparently been victims of extensive state wiretapping. This was the result of research by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ), as well as by “Zeit”, NDR, WDR and 15 other editorial offices from ten countries.
As the media reported on Sunday, secret services and police authorities of several countries are said to have misused the spyware of an Israeli company in order to tap into the mobile phones of those affected.
According to its own information, the international research group was able to evaluate a data leak with more than 50,000 telephone numbers, which have allegedly been the target of possible surveillance by customers of the Israeli company NSO Group since 2016. According to the report, the program developed by the company, called Pegasus, is considered by experts to be the most powerful surveillance program for cell phones and has been classified as a cyber weapon.
It is therefore able to spy on infiltrated cell phones in real time and bypass the encryption of messenger services such as WhatsApp or Signal. According to the report, the affected telephone numbers include the numbers of numerous journalists worldwide.
According to the “Guardian”, this includes employees of the news agencies AFP, Reuters and AP, the newspapers “New York Times”, “Le Monde”, “El País” and Al-Jazeera, Radio Free Europe and CNN. In total, more than 180 journalists’ numbers could be evaluated.
As reported by the Washington Post, the list also included the numbers of heads of state and prime ministers, members of Arab royal families, diplomats and business people. The leak did not clearly reveal who the clients of the possible spying were.
Not all numbers were hacked
Not all numbers were hacked, according to the report. With the help of forensic investigations, attempted or successful attacks with Pegasus on the cell phones of journalists, human rights activists and business people were proven in 37 cases. The company NSO Group reportedly only sells the program to state authorities and for the purpose of combating terrorism and serious crime.
At the request of the media, the NSO Group announced that it had “no access to the data of the target persons” of its customers. The collection of the numbers could have “many legitimate and completely clean uses that have nothing to do with surveillance or NSO”.
The journalists whose cell phones reported evidence of successful Pegasus attacks include two reporters from the Hungarian investigative medium Direkt36. The research suggests that these attacks were carried out by government agencies in Hungary, reported the research collective. The Hungarian government did not contradict this accusation when asked.
Kashoggi’s fiancée was also affected
According to the report, a well-known reporter from “Le Monde” was spied on in France. An analysis of the data and further research suggest that these attacks originated in Morocco. When asked by the research collective, the Moroccan government said that it had not been proven that there was a business relationship between Morocco and the NSO Group.
According to the research, those affected include Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Her cell phone was attacked with the Pegasus malware four days after the murder of Khashoggi. The NSO Group said the company’s technology was “in no way” connected to the journalist’s murder. (AFP)
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