Researchers at University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab published a report that accused the government of Thailand of targeting activists and dissidents with smartphone spyware Pegasus, developed by Israeli firm NSO.
According to the report, the Thai government is suspected of using Pegasus to infect activists’ smartphones between 2020 and 2021. The use of the spyware appeared to have stopped in November 2021 when Apple started sending notifications to users that their phone might have been infected.
Successful infection of a smartphone with Pegasus gives the attacker full access to the phone including the microphone, camera, location, calls, and photos. In simpler terms, the spyware turns the phone into a listening device.
Citizen Lab’s report, which was peer-reviewed by Amnesty International’s security lab, disputes the Thai government’s claim that reports of it using spyware to target activists were “untrue”. The research concluded that “the attackers targeted selected individuals with Pegasus in order to gather particular information rather than using it for mass surveillance against dissidents in general”....
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