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What is Pegasus Spyware for iOS and Android


Pegasus Spyware – Apple iPhone and iPad users often believe they are safe. There is no iOS malware, they say. Apple does a little bit.  discouraging the idea – the “fruit company” does not even allow antivirus solutions in its App Store, because, you know, it is suspected to be unnecessary.

The keyword here is called. There is malware in the wild targeting iOS users – it has been proven many times, and in August 2016 researchers reaffirmed that by revealing the existence of Pegasus, spyware that can hack any iPad or iPhone, harvest data about the victim, and establish surveillance of them. . That discovery made the whole world cyber security uncomfortable.


How it works Pegasus Spyware?

The previous version of Pegasus has been installed on smartphones using a threat to the most used apps or a spear to steal important information,  which involves tricking the targeted user into clicking a link or opening a document that secretly encrypts the software.  It can also be mounted on a wireless transceiver located near the target,  or by hand if the agent can steal the target phone.

Icon closure on smartphone screen
Pegasus can sneak into a smartphone with the most widely used messaging app WhatsApp without the user’s attention. Christoph Scholz / Flickr, CC BY-SA

Since 2019,  Pegasus users have been able to install software on Smartphones via an uninterrupted WhatsApp app, and can even delete an unlocked call recording,  making it difficult for the phone owner to know anything wrong. One way is to simply send a message to the user’s phone without generating a notification. 



What is Pegasus Spyware?

Developed by NSO Group Technologies, a technology security company based in Israel,  Pegasus is a system that allows the controller (the person who installed the spyware) to access the smartphone microphone, and camera and can also access messages, emails, and collect location data as well.

According to Kaspersky’s report, Pegasus allows you to listen to encrypted audio streams and read encrypted messages. Basically, a criminal has access to every phone.

According to the NSO team,  the program has only been sold to government agencies that have been audited and aimed at fighting terrorism and crime.

Kaspersky’s report also reveals that Pegasus has acquired in 2017 thanks to Ahmed Mansoor,  a human rights activist in the UAE, who became one of the targets.

He received several SMSs believed to contain malicious links and took his phone to security experts at Citizen Lab who,  with the help of another security company Lookout, found him a spy (later called Pegasus).

However, the origins of spyware can be traced back to 2016. Affects Android and iOS devices.


When the iPhone is in danger, it is done in a way that allows the attacker to get the so-called root rights,  or administrative rights, on the device, ”said Guarnieri. “Pegasus can do more than what the device owner can do.”

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. However, they do not dispute any particular findings or conclusions.

The NSO has invested heavily in making its software hard to find  and Pegasus infection is now much harder to detect.   Security analysts suspect that the latest version of the Pegasus only dwells on the phone’s temporar memory,  rather than on its hard drive, which means that when the phone is unlocked almost every piece of software disappear.

One of the most important challenges Pegasus presented to journalists.  and human rights defenders was the fact that the software used unforeseen risks, which meant that even the most careful user of a mobile phone could not prevent the attack.

Pegasus

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