Engadget Logo The allegations used to steal the photos of the government criticism journalist by the Japanese spyware "PEGASUS".

The other day, there was an Amnesty International report that PEGASUS, a spy wear developed and sold by the Israeli company NSO Group, is targeted by human rights activists, lawyers and journalists.It has been reported that the government was used to steal private photos from a smartphone of a female journalist.

PEGASUS in question is that infected devices can secretly send messages and photos stored in the smartphone, or record telephone calls without knowing them.Following the fact that the iPhone with 37 journalists had been found by the government and others at the end of 2020, Amnesty was iOS 14 last month..It was announced that the zero click vulnerabilities that existed in 6, that is, a loophole that could install malware even if the user did nothing.

According to the US NBC News report, Ghada OUEISS, a Lebannan broadcast journalist at Algerazilla (the state -owned television station in the Middle East Qatar), had dinner with her husband in June 2020, but a colleague made Twitter.He received a message to check.OUEISS, who checked Twitter, had a private photo taken while wearing a bikini in a jacuzzi, along with multiple accounts, along with the information of a lie that "was taken at her boss's house."It is stated that it was so hard.

After a few days, thousands of tweets and DMs, who attacked OUEISS's reliability as a journalist, were flooded, swearing her as a prostitute or an ugly and older woman.Many of these messages were transmitted by an account that seemed to be a supporter of the Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Al Saud (MBS), and also included a certified account of government officials.

This is not just OUEISS's speculation, but her smartphone was investigated by a digital forensic expert and Pegasus was used to access photos (Twitter users who spread the MBS Crown Prince and photographs at the end of 2020.It is based on the submitted complaint in a trial that was raised by the other party).

OUEISS said, "I immediately knew that my mobile phone was hacked," and said that it was targeted to block critical reporting to the Saudi administration.He also emphasizes that the photos of the question have never been published anywhere, and they were only on their devices.

The leaked photos seem to be no problem in Japan and Europe and the United States.However, NBC News pointed out that in these kinds of photos, victims could be damaged in the Middle East.In other words, in a conservative society such as Saudi Arabia, even swimwear photos were regarded as scandalous, and were used to humiliate women and reduce their reputation.

Apple is iOS 14 at the end of July.7.It is presumed that 1 has been delivered and the security update has blocked the vulnerabilities used in the past (although Apple has not stated).However, NSO has been responding every time iOS is taken, and it is certain that he is still looking for a new omission.

Apple suggests that Most users have nothing to do with Amnesty, saying that PEGASUSGA is targeting a specific individual, "it is not a threat to overwhelming majority users."was doing.However, as the WhatsApp's CEO mentioned in the UK's interview, it seems that more measures are desired.

Source: NBC News

VIA: 9to5mac