Spyware Pegasus used to Snoop WhatsApp

News:Recently,it has been reported that WhatsApp was used to spy on journalists and human rights activists in India earlier this year.The surveillance was carried out using a spyware tool called Pegasus.

Facts:

About Pegasus:

• Pegasus is a spyware that can hack any iOS or Android device and steal a variety of data from the infected device.
• Pegasus works by sending an exploit link and if the target user clicks on the link, the malware or the code that allows the surveillance is installed on the user’s phone. 
• Once Pegasus is installed,the attacker has complete access to the target user’s phone.
• The spyware was created by NSO Group,an Israeli cybersecurity firm founded in 2010.
• The NSO group have claimed to help governments and law enforcement agencies across the world fight crime and terrorism.

Additional information:

About Malware:

• Malware which means malicious software refers to any kind of software that is designed to cause damage to a single computer, server or computer network
• It is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive malicious software including computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, and ransomware among others.

About Spyware:

• Spyware is classified as a type of malware designed to gain access to or damage your computer, often without your knowledge. 
• Spyware gathers your personal information and relay it to advertisers, data firms or external users.