If you were compiling a list of the most toxic tech companies, Facebook – strangely – would not come out on top. First place belongs to NSO, an outfit of which most people have probably never heard. Wikipedia tells us that “NSO Group is an Israeli technology firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones”.
Pause for a moment on that phrase: “remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones”. Most smartphone users assume that the ability of a hacker to penetrate their device relies upon the user doing something careless or naive – clicking on a weblink, or opening an attachment. And in most cases they would be right in that assumption. But Pegasus can get in without the user doing anything untoward. And once in, it turns everything on the device into an open book for whoever deployed the malware.
That makes it remarkable enough. But the other noteworthy thing about it is that it can infect Apple iPhones. This is significant because, traditionally, iPhones have been relatively secure devices and they are overwhelmingly the smartphone of choice for politicians, investigative journalists, human rights campaigners and dissidents in authoritarian countries.
Pegasus is so powerful it is classed as a munition and, as such, requires the permission of the Israeli government before it can be sold to foreign customers. And those customers, apparently, have to be governments. It’s not available as a consumer product. (The company insists it is only intended for use against ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
