Citizen Lab watchdog says Israeli NSO Group’s spyware used by operator working in country since early 2020.
13 Jan 2022
The mobile phones of dozens of journalists and activists in El Salvador have been hacked since at least early 2020 and implanted with Israeli-made Pegasus spyware typically available only to governments and law enforcement, according to a new report by a watchdog group.
The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said on Wednesday it had identified an operator of the spyware working exclusively in El Salvador and targeting journalists and activists, many of whom were investigating alleged state corruption.
While the researchers could not conclusively determine the hacks came from El Salvador’s government, the report said “the strong country-specific focus of the infections suggests that this is very likely”.
The government of President Nayib Bukele has denied any association with the Pegasus technology and said it is not a client of its maker, Israeli firm NSO Group.
Pegasus technology allows users to steal encrypted messages, photos, contacts, documents and other sensitive information from infected phones without users’ knowledge. It can also reportedly turn handsets into eavesdropping devices by silently activating their cameras and microphones.
Sofia Medina, a spokeswoman for the president, told The Associated Press news agency that the government was investigating the reported hacking. She said that she and at least two other government officials had received alerts from tech company Apple in recent months warning they may have themselves been victims of state-sponsored hacking.
For its part, the NSO Group, which was blacklisted by the United States government last year, says it sells its spyware only to legitimate government law enforcement and intelligence agencies vetted by Israel’s defence ministry.
‘Jaw-dropping’
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