A Spyware On WhatsApp Is Used To Surveil Lots Of Indian Academics And Journalists

WhatsApp revealed that around two dozen of Indian lawyers, journalists, academics, and Dalit activists have been the target of threat operators. What they use for this unlawful surveillance is the Pegasus spyware of NSO Group, a security firm.

This news broke out as WhatsApp is filing a lawsuit against the other company for its participation in the scheme that lets government spies penetrate around 1,400 phones of users all over the world. The targets are senior government officials, diplomats, journalists, and political dissidents.

According to a spokesperson of WhatsApp, human rights activists and journalists in India have been surveilled and the number of victims is pretty big.

Back in May 2019, WhatsApp found out and stopped a cyberattack targeting its video calling function to infect the Pegasus malware. In the lawsuit, the Facebook-owned company accused the NSO Group of turning the vulnerabilities into a weapon to eavesdrop the victims.

All 1,400 users have received messages from WhatsApp guiding them on how to defend themselves from future attacks.

In answer to WhatsApp’s accusation, NSO Group said that it only offered its technology to law enforcement agencies and government intelligence to help with fighting crimes and terrorism.

However, several recent instances have proven the contrary. Pegasus has been used by many governments around the world to surveil human rights activists.

The operator of the incident in India is believed to be called the Ganges, and all common carriers and ISPs have fell victims of the malware, including Bharti Airtel, Hathway, and MTNL.

The Indian government has required WhatsApp to explain the nature of the security breach and here is the answer: