Source: AFP
India’s government recently targeted high-profile journalists with Pegasus spyware, Amnesty International and the Washington Post said in a joint investigation published Thursday.
Created by the Israeli company NSO Group and sold to governments around the world, the Pegasus software can be used to access a phone’s messages and emails, track photos, track calls, track locations and even film the owner with camera.
Amnesty reported that journalists Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire and Anand Mangnale of The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project had been targeted with the spyware on their iPhones, with the last case identified in October.
“Our latest findings show that increasingly, journalists in India face the threat of illegal surveillance simply for doing their jobs, along with other tools of repression such as imprisonment under draconian laws, smear campaigns, harassment and intimidation,” said Donncha O Cearbhaill, head of Amnesty International’s Security Lab.
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/0753347bd545bd22.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/0753347bd545bd22.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
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India’s government did not immediately respond, but denied similar accusations in 2021 that it used Pegasus spyware to monitor political opponents, activists and journalists.
Indian media reported last month that the country’s cyber security unit was investigating allegations by opposition politicians of attempted wiretapping after they reported receiving warnings on Apple’s iPhone about “state-sponsored attackers”.
At the time, Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for information and technology, said the government was “concerned” by the allegations.
Source: AFP