After being banned in the US last year, Pegasus spyware has been the subject of investigations in many countries around the world. On Thursday, 23, representatives of the company that made the spy program attended a meeting. European Parliament’s commission of inquiry investigating the use of Pegasus and other equivalent surveillance spyware.
In front of European Union legislators, Chaim Gelfand, NSO Group’s General Counsel, declined to answer specific questions about the company’s customers, limiting himself to stating that “less than 50” currently use the notorious Pegasus. “more than five” member states of the EU itself.
Despite reports issued by governments around the world spying on journalists, human rights activists and opposition politicians, Gelfand insisted on the outdated thesis that spyware is sold to government agencies only “for the purposes of preventing and investigating terrorism and other serious crimes.”
How does Pegasus spyware work?
Heather Mahalik of the SANS Institute, who was one of the speakers during the RSA Conference, the largest event in the information security industry in the US earlier this month, told Pegasus. “This attack literally flies through the air, landing on your iOS or Android device. You don’t click on it, but it installs itself immediately, and that’s where my job gets very difficult. It also self-destructs.”
According to experts, the flying horse malware infects the selected target’s device via a message that is automatically processed on the device, even unopened. Once the code is uploaded, the NSO client can access the victim’s emails, passwords and photos.
Although Gelfand assures us that “when we identify a customer violating terms of use, [do Pegasus]terminated”, consultant refused to inform Whether Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Hungary, and Poland were among these termination claims.
Source: Tec Mundo
