Concerned by a ‘PR problem’, the Narendra Modi government is reported to be looking to spend up to $120 million (over Rs 986 crores) on new spyware sold by firms less exposed than Israel’s NSO Group which sells Pegasus, says a report by the Financial Times, based on inputs from sources it says are familiar with the move.
Pegasus is a military-grade spyware which can surveil targets with the help of their phones. In 2021, The Wire, along with an international consortium of news outlets led by French media non-profit Forbidden Stories, broke the story on how journalists’, opposition leaders’, government critics’ and activists’ phone numbers were on a list of presumed Pegasus targets accessed by Forbidden Stories. Forensic tests on various devices by Amnesty International’s Security Lab also revealed that some activists and journalists’ phones had the spyware active.
— source thewire.in | 31/Mar/2023