From CNET: It's a doozy of a case of digital spying. Security researchers have revealed evidence of attempted or successful installations of Pegasus, software made by Israel-based cybersecurity company NSO Group, on 37 phones belonging to activists, journalists and businesspeople. They appear to have been targets of secret surveillance by software that's intended to help governments pursue criminals and terrorists.
Pegasus has been a politically explosive issue that's put Israel under pressure from activists and from governments worried about misuse of the software. France and the US earlier raised concerns, and NSO has suspended some countries' Pegasus privileges. On Wednesday, the US federal government took much stronger action, blocking sale of US technology to NSO by putting the company on the government's Entity List.
The phones were on an activist organization's list of more than 50,000 phone numbers for politicians, judges, lawyers, teachers and others. Also on that list are 10 prime ministers, three presidents and a king, according to an international investigation released in mid-July by The Washington Post and other media outlets, though there's no proof that being on the list means an attack was attempted or successful.
Pegasus is the latest example of how vulnerable we all are to digital prying. Our most personal information -- photos, text messages and emails -- is stored on our phones. Spyware can reveal directly what's going on in our lives, bypassing the encryption that protects data sent over the internet.
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