Phone numbers of Indian ministers, opposition politicians, journalists, activists and others are listed on a leaked database that reported...
Phone numbers of Indian ministers, opposition politicians, journalists, activists and others are listed on a leaked database that reportedly reflects potential targets of illegal cyber surveillance using the Pegasus hacking software, according to the Wire.
Forensic tests revealed that at least some of those named on the list had their phones hacked by the spyware that Israeli company NSO Group says it only sells to “vetted governments”.
The leaks raise questions about cyber surveillance of Indian citizens, particularly in light of the government’s failure to deny whether it has purchased licences for the Pegasus hacking software after similar revelations in the past.
A government statement on Sunday once again failed to categorically address questions of whether any Indian agencies had used the spyware. Instead, it said that “there has been no unauthorised interception” and that “the allegations regarding government surveillance on specific people has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever”.
Spyware targets
The leaked list, featuring more than 50,000 phone numbers “concentrated in countries known to engage in surveillance of their citizens”, was accessed by Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, which shared it with 17 news organisations as part of the Pegasus Project.
According to the Wire, which focused on the Indian portion of the list, “the numbers of those in the database include over 40 journalists, three...