NEW DELHI (Daily Point) — A recent collaborative investigation by Amnesty International and The Washington Post has brought to light allegations that the Indian government utilized the infamous Pegasus spyware to target prominent journalists.
The spyware, developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group and distributed to governments globally, enables unauthorized access to a phone’s messages, emails, photos, call recordings, location data, and even its camera.
As per reports from the Indian newspaper National Herald, the spyware employed both IP addresses and domain names to reach its targets. The investigative findings, citing research published since the Pegasus user handbook leak in 2016, suggest that forensic analyses have become feasible.
The Israeli spyware, usually deployed for several months of target surveillance, exploited both IP addresses and domain names for reaching its targets, as reported by the National Herald.
The investigation revealed that journalists Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire and Anand Mangnale of The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project were among those targeted with the spyware on their iPhones, with the latest known case occurring in October, according to AFP.
Amnesty International’s Security Lab Head, Donncha O Cearbhaill, stated, “Our latest findings show that increasingly, journalists in India face the threat of unlawful surveillance simply for doing their jobs, alongside other tools of repression including imprisonment under draconian laws, smear campaigns, harassment, and intimidation.”
While the Indian government did not provide an immediate response, it had previously denied similar accusations in 2021 regarding the use of Pegasus spyware to surveil political opponents, activists, and journalists.
In a related incident last month, Indian media reported that the country’s cybersecurity unit was investigating allegations by opposition politicians of attempted phone tapping after they reported receiving Apple iPhone warnings of “state-sponsored attackers.” Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expressed the government’s concern regarding the complaints.
