NSO's Pegasus was Utilized to Hack 6 Palestinian Activists Phones, Reveals Citizen Lab Report

 

On Monday, the cell phones of six Palestinian rights activists in the Israeli-occupied West Bank were hacked utilizing NSO's Pegasus spyware, internet security watchdog Citizen Lab and Amnesty International revealed.

According to AP news, the revelation points to the first instance of Palestinian activists that the military-grade Pegasus spyware has spied on. It has been used against activists, journalists, and political dissidents from Mexico to Saudi Arabia since the beginning of 2015. 

In July, a consortium of worldwide news outlets found NSO's spyware was utilized to hack the cell phones of politicians, journalists, activists and entrepreneurs in over 40 nations. NSO stated that it licenses Pegasus to only governments requiring surveillance to battle and tackle crime and terrorism

Analysts say the hacking programming created and sold by NSO Group can be utilized to remotely get inside mobiles and turn on the microphone and camera. Pegasus can corrupt targeted gadgets with supposed "zero-click" attacks. The spyware can be installed without the owner clicking on a malicious link. 

An Ireland-based international human rights group, Front Line Defenders, examined around 75 iPhones of Palestinian rights activists and found that six of them were hacked in 2020 and 2021 by Pegasus. 

According to Mohammed al-Maskati of the Frontline Defenders, the researcher who originally detected it stated that the hacking of Palestinian rights defenders phones began in July 2020, and it's not apparent who placed the spyware on their devices.

Both Citizen Lab and Amnesty International's Security Lab checked Front Line Defenders' research and affirmed its findings autonomously. 

As indicated by Citizen Lab, three of the six Palestinian activists whose gadgets were hacked agreed to be identified. Two among them have dual nationality, one American and one French, and the other three served for organizations marked by the Israeli government to be associated with terror groups.

The hacking allegedly happened prior to the Ministry of Defense's Oct. 19 declaration of the designation, which analysts stated was a work by Israel to interfere with financing and global aid for Palestinian rights groups.