Could downloading Pegasus from the web threaten our privacy? “This is not a fully functional install”

A spyware called Pegasus was developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. The system turns the phone into a listening device; In theory, it is used to monitor criminals and terrorists.

Pandora’s Box for the 21st Century. Pegasus hit the internet. Anyone can download it for free

Pegasus is free to download

Jonathan Scott, US security expert, posted a sample on GitHub on Tuesday a program Winged horse. Version 5.1 can be downloaded to an Android smartphone, we have already written about it on Next.gazeta.pl. Scott has also included installation instructions, and the files are free to download.

What can be the consequences of downloading and installing the program on a smartphone? “This is not a fully functional Pegasus installation. It’s a component that infects an Android smartphone, which is fundamentally important to security researchers” – the website explains Niebezpiecznik.pl In response to a question submitted by Next.gazeta.pl.

“Analyzing the code of this component can help answer questions about how the Pegasus proxy works and how it communicates with the operator’s servers. This information may be useful in developing methods for detecting this spyware” – we read in the letter sent to us.

Niebezpiecznik.pl reports that the above-mentioned Pegasus specimens have been available on the Internet for several months.

Read more similar information on the homepage Gazeta.pl

In Poland, more than 6000 people are intercepted every year. They will never know about it

Citizen Lab About Pegasus: One click is enough to get into someone’s bedroom

In December 2021, the Associated Press revealed that Pegasus had been used, among other things, for surveillance sponsor Roman Gertich, who represented prominent opposition politicians; Prosecutor Ewa Wrzoكek, who opposed the purges in the Polish judicial system, and politician opposed to Senator Krzysztof Brigza – formerly head of the election staff were also spied on. Civic Coalition. His phone was attacked by Pegasus 33 times.

said John Scott Railton of Citizen Lab, a Canadian research group at the University of Toronto Pegasus is a surveillance tool that the security service could only dream of one day. – In the times of the People’s Republic of Poland, in order to spy on someone, you had to have a network of informants, you had to install microphones and the entire infrastructure in the walls. Now it only takes one click to get to someone’s bedroom, he said.