this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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  • Russia appears to be targeting journalists with spyware known as Pegasus.

  • Pegasus is a "zero-click" software, hacking phones by sending texts that don't need to be opened.

  • The software has targeted dozens of journalists, activists, and politicians in recent years.

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[–] takeda 110 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Pegasus is an Israeli product, are they selling it to Russia?

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago

Why not? Do you think US donations come with conditions?

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah either something else is involved here or Israel is indeed selling Pegasus to literally any government that requests it. Let's not forget that NSO group is state funded so those deals clearly do have the approval from the Israeli government.

[–] mea_rah 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Nothing to worry folks, here's what NSO said when it was used to target Khashoggi's inner circle as he was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate:

NSO denies any wrongdoing. It says the software is intended for use against criminals and terrorists and is made available only to military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies from countries with good human rights records

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of the key reasons for Israel's reluctance to help Ukraine win the war militarily is simple: It still works closely with Russia.

Russia is important for Israel's military operations in neighboring Syria, where Israel has been carrying out airstrikes against Iran-backed militias, mainly those of Hezbollah.

https://kyivindependent.com/on-support-for-ukraine-israel-performs-precarious-balancing-act-between-security-interests/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Does this mention Pegasus at all?

[–] Nabs 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Now inform everyone else that other countries are targeting with pegasus

*edit: spelling

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (5 children)

They do, and they’ve shared the counter measure (lockdown mode) with the world.

If a nation state will individually target someone, they don’t need to doom scroll on insta (nor do they need to). Locking down the phone to the bare minimum for these kind of people is the appropriate level of response.

[–] crossal 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How is this a solution? 🤔 and whats the "solution" for android?

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[–] b000urns 23 points 1 year ago

What are the comments in here.. Lol. Anyone able to give a level-headed take on this article/topic? Cheers

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

At this rate an iPhone will just be Pegasus all the way down. 76 nation states and their rogue black ops will battle for pegasupremacy.

He who hacks harder wins.

(The above is not based on any fact)

But, seriously... 3 (known) years later and Apple doesn't have a fix for this?

Almost as if it's intentionally unpatched

Edit: fanboys are a tough crowd. Gheezus.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (17 children)

It's not like Pegasus is exploiting a single bug in iOS, there are probably hundreds of different ways Pegasus got onto phones over the years. Known security bugs get patched.

Pegasus isn't a single piece of software, it's a big toolkit, constantly updated. It's a race similar to ads vs. ad blockers.

It's not a problem exclusive to iOS either. Pegasus works on Android phones as well.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

But, seriously... 3 (known) years later and Apple doesn't have a fix for this?

Almost as if it's intentionally unpatched

Pegasus constantly adapts, evolves, and changes overtime with how it works. Pegasus 3 years ago isn't the same as Pegasus today. Once a vulnerability is discovered and fixed, they find a new one to exploit and take advantage of. Its a constant battle.

I'm not a big fan of Apple at all, but credit where its due, they have made a pretty good effort to patch Pegasus vulnerabilities whenever they come about, plus have added features like Lockdown Mode to help protect against it even further, etc. This article is literally about Apple even warning journalists to be cautious of it.

Saying Apple is intentionally allowing Pegasus to happen, like you're claiming, is honestly laughable with all things considered.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Make it preinstalled and put the hackers out of job. Taps forehead

[–] markr 2 points 1 year ago

Obviously we need multiple adversarial LLMs battling this out. Humans are not solving this problem.

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