President of France- Pegasus Spy case: President of France Emmanuel Macron ordered an investigation into the Pegasus case. According to the French newspaper Le-Monde, the president’s phone was also a possible victim of the Pegasus virus. French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Wednesday the president had called for a full investigation into the matter.
According to Amnesty International, the name of President of France is Emmanuel Macron is also on a list of 14 current and former heads of state who may have been targeted for hacking by clients of the notorious Israeli spyware company “NSO Group”. are gone. “Spyware” is software that enters someone’s computer, collects information about them, and secretly sends it to a third party.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in a statement on Tuesday: “A disclosure … which could worry many world leaders.” The Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into possible allegations, including invasion of privacy, illegal use of data and illegal sale of “spyware”.
In French law, the investigation does not name the alleged offender, but aims to determine who can ultimately be prosecuted. The investigation was opened following a complaint lodged by two journalists and the French website ‘Mediapart’. Several lawsuits have been filed against the “NSO” group by the alleged victims. This includes Facebook, which accused the Israeli company of hacking its WhatsApp subsidiary.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is among the targets likely to be found in a list of 50,000 phone numbers disclosed to Amnesty and the Paris-based nonprofit journalism organization Forbidden Stories, the Washington Post reported. . South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Iraqi President Barham Salih. Three current prime ministers and the King of Morocco, Mohammed (VI), are also included in this list.
According to reports, no head of state will present their smartphone for a forensic examination to determine if it has been affected by military-grade “NSO” “Pegasus spyware”. The investigation found either spyware or evidence of attempted break-ins on 37 phones. The leaked list was handed over to 16 other members of a global media association.
The French daily “Le Monde” said that in addition to Macron, 15 members of the French government could be one of the possible targets in 2019. Amnesty on Sunday published a “forensic analysis” linked to the case, in which it was revealed that ‘Amazon Web Services’ provided services to ONS. In response, Amazon said it closed NSO accounts that had been “confirmed to take over hacking activity.”
The American company ‘Digital Ocean’ has also established itself by providing its services to NSO. When ‘AP’ contacted the company, they neither accepted nor refused. “The services mentioned in Amnesty’s report are no longer linked to ‘Digital Motion’,” he said in an email.
