Pegasus, a spy software developed by the Israeli technology company NSO, is a piece of malware that infects both iPhones and Android phones. The spy software uses the camera of mobile phones and also sends messages, photos, Records emails, and calls.
According to the report, in the initial version of the spy software, a link was sent to the user’s mobile which if the user clicked, the software would be silently installed in the mobile phone after which the user’s secret password, calls, messages, emails, etc. could be easily hacked.
Another feature of this software was that it turned your mobile phone into a spy device for 24 hours, which means that whatever you are doing on your mobile phone, this software is secretly monitoring you.
Experts say that once this spy software is installed, it then links to devices known as command and control servers (C2s) that are computers or domains that carry commands and data on those devices. Used for sending and receiving.
This software was specifically designed to use minimal bandwidth and send the latest information to command and control servers without any proof. Domains on command and control servers can be used to verify a hack.
The latest version of this spy software is called ‘Zero Click’ in which there is no need to send any kind of link to hack any user’s mobile and then the user has to click on it.
This ‘Zero Click’ hacks into mobile phone operating systems using ‘Zero Day’ vulnerabilities that have not yet been fixed.
In December last year, researchers, including Bill Marquez, reported that the government had used this latest version of the spy software to hack 36 personal phones of journalists, producers, anchors, and executives of the news network Al Jazeera.
In addition, a report in the Washington Post and news agencies revealed that at least 50,000 people around the world were allegedly spied on by the Israeli company’s spy software.