Israeli Spyware Exploited for Surveillance of Global Businesspeople and Journalists

by Paek Jongmin

Published 19 Jul.2021 11:29(KST)

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] It has been revealed that smartphones used by politicians, journalists, and businesspeople worldwide were surveilled using spyware made in Israel.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

On the 17th (local time), media outlets such as The Washington Post (WP) and The Guardian, together with Amnesty International and the French nonprofit media organization Forbidden Stories, obtained and analyzed a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers related to the Pegasus spyware and reported this.

The country with the most phone numbers listed was Mexico, followed by many Middle Eastern countries including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Yemen. India was also heavily surveilled.

Identified hacking victims included at least 65 corporate executives, 85 human rights activists, 189 journalists, and over 600 politicians and government officials. In some countries, heads of state and prime ministers were also targeted. The media outlets to which the hacked journalists belonged included CNN, the Financial Times (FT), the New York Times (NYT), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and Al Jazeera.

Cases where the hacked individuals suffered harm were also identified. WP reported that two women connected to Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian dissident journalist who was brutally murdered, were also targeted by hacking attacks. The Guardian pointed out that Cecilio Pineda Birto, a Mexican investigative journalist who was killed, was also a hacking target.

The Guardian reported that NSO, an Israeli security company, claimed to have verified records of human rights abuses and stated that Pegasus was sold only to the military, police, and intelligence agencies of 40 countries. However, NSO’s clients were accused of spying on democracy activists, journalists, and political opponents unrelated to crime, contrary to their contracts.