NSO’s Pegasus Hacks the iPhone of a Renowned Journalist

Recently, a source disclosed that NSO’s Pegasus managed to hack the iPhone of an award-winning Jordanian journalist, just weeks after Silicon Valley giant Apple sought an injunction that would restrict the company from targeting iOS users.

The Pegasus software from NSO is extremely risky for a couple of reasons. First, it provides access to nearly all of your phone’s data, including texts, images, and location. Second, it employs a zero-click approach.

The majority of malware works by tricking a phone user into clicking on a link, which security-conscious individuals will never do. A zero-click attack, on the other hand, installs malware without requiring user interaction by sending the malware as a message.

NSO’s Pegasus Hacks the iPhone of a Renowned Journalist

Journalists, attorneys, human rights campaigners, and political opponents have all been targeted by Pegasus in the past.  Now, investigators believe they’ve discovered evidence that a renowned Jordanian journalist and human rights activist’s iPhone was hacked with the Pegasus malware just weeks after Apple sued the spyware’s developer, NSO Group, to prevent it from targeting Apple users.

According to an investigation of her phone by Front Line Defenders and Citizen Lab, award-winning journalist Suhair Jaradat’s phone was infiltrated with the infamous spyware as recently as December 5, 2021. Jaradat’s phone was hacked after she received a WhatsApp message imitating a prominent anti-government opponent with links to the Pegasus spyware. According to the forensic analysis, Jaradat’s iPhone had been hacked multiple times in the months leading up to February 2021.

Furthermore, according to Front Line Defenders and Citizen Lab’s findings released Tuesday, multiple Jordanians, including human rights defenders, attorneys, and fellow journalists, had their phones hacked by Jordanian government agents.

While NSO says that it only sells Pegasus to legitimate government law enforcement agencies, it has been criticized for selling it to countries with a history of terrible human rights.

Last year, Apple released an iOS security update that was thought to solve one of Pegasus’ zero-day weaknesses, but it’s a never-ending game of cat-and-mouse as NSO continues to buy fresh exploits on the black market.

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