It has labelled reports from investigative journalists a vicious and slanderous campaign upon which it will no longer comment.

Yet the founder and chief executive of NSO Grouppreviously admittedthat in some circumstances our customers might misuse the system.

We may be heading to a world in whichno phone is safefrom such attacks.

Yeah, you should worry about the booming spyware industry

It’s free, every week, in your inbox.

Pegasus is regarded as themost advanced spywareon the market.

It can infiltrate victims devices without their even having to click a malicious link a so-called zero-click attack.

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Once inside, the power Pegasus possesses to transform a phone into a surveillance beacon is astounding.

It immediately sets to work copying messages, pictures, videos and downloaded content to send to the attacker.

Theres previous evidence of Pegasus misuse.

The Conversation

It was implicated in thealleged hackingof Jeff Bezos phone by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia in 2018.

Basic spyware can be traced back tothe early 1990s.

Now its abooming industrywith thousands of eager buyers.

The use of such spyware bystalkers and abusive partnersis a growing, concerning issue.

Then of course theres theglobal surveillance estatethat Edward Snowden lifted the curtain on in 2013.

Were no longer debating the right of the state to violate our own rights to privacy.

Weve only just begun to fully contemplate the full implications of Pegasus on our collective privacy and democracy.

Evidence suggests that Pegasus has been misused and greater accountability and oversight is needed.

We must also seek to rekindle important debates around enforceable controls on the creation and sale of corporate spyware.

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