The story so far: The Washington Post and human rights non-profit Amnesty International have alleged that the spyware instance known as Pegasus continues to be in use, on this occasion targeting journalists in India. Based on newfound data from the latter organisation’s Security Lab, the two organisations have said the phones of founding editor of the online news portal The Wire, Siddharth Varadarajan, and South Asia editor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Report Project (OCCRP) Anand Mangnale were infected with the spyware. The alleged incursion was identified in October 2023 following a forensic analysis, and after phone-maker Apple had issued security notifications to its users, including certain Members of Parliament, that their iPhones were being targeted by “state-sponsored attackers”.
What has Amnesty International alleged?
After Apple issued a security notification to certain iPhone users, including MPs, in October, researchers at Amnesty International’s Security Lab analysed the allegedly infected devices, including those belonging to Mr. Varadarajan and Mr. Mangnale. At the end of their examination, they reported finding traces of Pegasus’s activity on their respective devices.
