If your device is compromised by a state-sponsored attacker, they may be able to remotely access your sensitive data, communications, or even the camera and microphone.” It urges the recipients, “While it’s possible this is a false alarm, please take this warning seriously.” While the language of Apple’s warning is identical to what the phone manufacturer has used in the past to alert victims of spyware around the world, the fact that at least five persons in India received the same alert at the same time (11:45 pm on October 30, 2023) suggests those being targeted are part of an India-specific cluster.
Given Indians – specially journalists, parliamentarians and constitutional functionaries – have also reportedly been targeted with Pegasus in the past it is a matter of deep concern for our democracy,” Prateek Waghre, policy director of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) told The Wire.
Moreover, investigations by Amnesty, Citizen Lab, and notifications from WhatsApp corroborate its use, suggesting a pattern in India and a matching victim profile.
Secondly, Access Now and Citizen Lab last month have confirmed the validity of Apple’s threat notifications sent to Russian journalists, including Meduza’s publisher.
In 2021, the Pegasus Project had confirmed that more than a dozen phones in India – of politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others – had been infected with the Israeli spyware which hundreds more had likely been targeted, including phones connected with the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi, lawyers, a sitting judge, an election commissioner, the ousted CBI director and family members of such persons also, just before and after the previous general elections in 2019.
The Wire partnered with several global news outlets to unveil the cyber attacks by state-sponsored entities, as the spyware company NSO Group has always maintained it only sold Pegasus to governments.
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