21 JUN 2017
by Bill Camarda
When you sell sophisticated spyware to governments – tools intended to invisibly track criminals and terrorists – what happens when they start using those tools against peaceful political opponents? Is it realistic to imagine they won’t?
These are just two of the questions raised by The New York Times’ report that “Mexico’s most prominent human rights lawyers, journalists and anti-corruption activists have been targeted by advanced spyware sold to the Mexican government” by NSO Group, an Israeli company that claims it made “an explicit agreement that it be used only to battle terrorists or the drug cartels and criminal groups that have long kidnapped and killed Mexicans”.
Through NSO Group’s Pegasus software, governments can send a personalized text message with an infected link to a blank page: as soon as that link is clicked on an iOS or Android smartphone, the software takes full control over the device, monitoring all messaging, contacts, and calendars, and possibly even turning on microphones and cameras to spy on its targets.
According to the NYT’s report, targets in Mexico included Juan E. Pardinas, a key advocate for anti-corruption legislation, and his wife – who received a text message that purported to include links to photos proving he was having an affair. Also targeted: leading journalist Carmen Aristegui, who received a message claiming to be from the local United States embassy, telling her to click a link to solve a visa problem. Aristegui’s son received at least 22 NSO-infected SMS messages while at school in the US – again including messages impersonating US government officials, a likely violation of US law.
More:
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2017/06/21/commercial-spyware-unleashed-against-mexican-political-activists/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nakedsecurity+%28Naked+Security+-+Sophos%29
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