By Whitney Webb
There is no such thing as a secure internet. I am certain this software is used to detect terrorists. The terrorist networks are heavily reliant on cell phones. But, in the wrong hands it becomes a threat to people other than terrorists.
Kaspersky (click here)
...There actually is malware in the wild that targets iOS users — it’s been proved a number of times, and in August 2016 researchers proved it again by revealing the existence of Pegasus, spyware capable of hacking any iPad or iPhone, harvesting data about the victim, and establishing surveillance on them. That discovery made the whole cybersecurity world… uneasy....
...As for surveillance, let’s be clear: We’re talking total surveillance. Pegasus is modular malware. After scanning the target’s device, it installs the necessary modules to read the user’s messages and mail, listen to calls, capture screenshots, log pressed keys, exfiltrate browser history, contacts, and so on and so forth. Basically, it can spy on every aspect of the target’s life....
Encryption is worthless. It has it's own self-defense so it cannot be detected.
...It’s also noteworthy that Pegasus could even listen to encrypted audio streams and read encrypted messages — thanks to its keylogging and audio recording capabilities, it was stealing messages before they were encrypted (and, for incoming messages, after decryption)....
The Android version is Chrysaor. Chrysaor was the brother of the winged horse Pegasus and son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa.
Read the rest of the Kaspersky article as it claims there is a defense against Pegasus by iOS. I don't know what type of cell phone Jamal Khashoggi had, but, defenses didn't help him.
El Aviv — NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden (click here) told an Israeli audience on Tuesday that surveillance software designed by an Israeli company had been used to target groups of journalists in Mexico as well as Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered last month in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Snowden, speaking to a Tel Aviv conference hosted by Israeli public relations firm OH! Orenstein Hoshen via video feed, stated that secretive Israeli cyberwarfare firm NSO Group Technologies has been “selling a digital burglary tool” that has been used by governments to spy on citizens and journalists in particular. Snowden did not attend the conference in person due to concern that he could be handed over to U.S. authorities. He was granted asylum by the government of Russia, where he currently resides, in 2013.
He explained that even if some “good actors” use NSO’s surveillance software, known as Pegasus, “it is not just being used for catching criminals and stopping terrorist attacks…not just for saving lives, but for making money…such a level of recklessness…actually starts costing lives.” Pegasus is a government-exclusive “lawful intercept” spyware program that is not available to the general public or even non-state clients.
During the conference, Snowden stated that NSO’s software had been used to track Saudi journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi prior to his murder in Istanbul last month. Snowden’s assertion comes after a report last month revealed that Israel sold Pegasus to Saudi Arabia after a series of covert meetings in the United States and the United Kingdom as part of a deal that netted Israel an estimated $250 million.
Additionally, a group of Canadian academics revealed last month that they had noted a “significant expansion of Pegasus usage” by Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and that these governments were largely targeting dissidents and journalists living abroad. Saudi Arabia also recently came under fire for using the software to target global human rights advocacy group Amnesty International....
