India IT minister denies illegal use of NSO Pegasus spyware

Indian IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has denied the nation illegally used the NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, but hasn't denied that India used it. The existence of Pegasus is not news. But over the weekend, Amnesty International, French outfit Forbidden Stories and a dozen publications around the world alleged the software has …

[FozzyBear]

but the email address provided for media inquiries – for a staffer at "high stakes public strategy firm" Mercury – returned a "User address unknown" error.

But they know you , now. Grab your tin foil hats boys and girls !

[Anonymous Coward]

Just imagine the Stink if NSO

had been a *Chinese* Company.

[Eclectic Man]

Re: Just imagine the Stink if NSO

I doubt any Chinese company with a product like this would sell it to Western governments.

[Pascal Monett]

I think the Chinese like money just as much as anyone else.

[gandalfcn]

Re: Just imagine the Stink if NSO

Yes Thomas. The PRC and its entrepreneurs didn''t drag its population out of abject poverty by being prissy and finicky. And why wouldn't they sell it? Nice profit from selling it to others to facilitate their spying on their own and destroying themselves.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is any one surprised, its not like their customers have never done anything dodgy is it?

Much easier to compromise the "ends" in a world of commonplace end to end crypto. Wonder if there will be a surge in sales of feature phones now

[Anonymous Coward]

They already know

” The Register has attempted to contact NSO Group, but the email address provided for media inquiries”

No need to send them inquiries, nor customer feedfack. They are already listening to you.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: They already know

"If you wish to talk to us directly, bury $10,000 in used bills in your backyard. One of our underground agents will contact you."

[Anonymous Coward]

in other news

British Ministry of Defence denied having conducted illegal drone strikes in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Justice denied denying... , while Mr Hitler dismissed the claims of illegal harassment of German citizens with Jewish ancestry. There, my payday from all three.

[Pascal Monett]

"has denied the nation illegally used the NSO Group's Pegasus spyware"

The obligatory conclusion from that statement is that there has been "legal" use of the Pegasus spyware.

Logic is extremely simple. If India didn't use the software, the Minister would have been boasting about it.

He's not, so they're using it.

[MiguelC]

Re: "has denied the nation illegally used the NSO Group's Pegasus spyware"

OTH, don't believe anything until it has been officially denied

[JulieM]

Whether governments used it legally or illegally is not the point

Whether governments used the Pegasus spyware legally or illegally, and whether or not NSO supplied it to anyone other than a responsible government department, are beside the point. The point is that the software exists, and is in use; therefore, the vulnerabilities that enable it to work still exist.

Which means any Fred in the Shed with the time and the inclination to read some long and boring documents and experiment with a few second-hand phones that can be bought cheaply on the Internet could, if they applied themself to the task, recreate what Pegasus does.

Have you forgotten the 1980s already? Suddenly, out of almost nowhere, a bunch of kids who otherwise might have been punks started getting creative with the microcomputers of the day and making their own video games. Multiple times, on incompatible systems; and with scant regard for anyone standing over them with a big stick demanding payment for the use of a character. It was all about proving you could do it.

Well, there's no reason to suppose somebody has not thought "I wonder if I could sneak an app onto a phone ....." and gone ahead and done it.

If the good guys can get in, that means the bad guys can also get in. And someone might be aiding and abetting them.

[tiggity]

Re: Whether governments used it legally or illegally is not the point

@JulieM

"If the good guys can get in, that means the bad guys can also get in"

That assumes there are some good guys.

Cannot assume state actor = good guy.

[stiine]

well-used ???

"robust approval processes that the Minister said are in place and well-used by national and state governments.

Does this mean simply that they are used by national and state governments? Or does it mean they are regularly used by national and state governments?