Oct 03, 2022 19:20:00

New evidence that journalists' smartphones reporting corruption and human rights violations in Mexico were infected with spyware 'Pegasus' can be found

A journalist and human rights activist who reported on corruption in public officials in Mexico had spyware '

Pegasus ' installed on his smartphone without his knowledge. The route of infection has not been clarified, but there is also a view that government organizations were involved.

Ejercito Espía - Ejército Espía
https://ejercitoespia.r3d.mx/

New Pegasus Spyware Abuses Identified in Mexico - The Citizen Lab
https://citizenlab.ca/2022/10/new-pegasus-spyware-abuses-identified-in-mexico/

An investigation by Red en los Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D), a Mexican digital rights organization, has revealed that Pegasus infected the smartphones of journalists and human rights activists between 2019 and 2021. .

Pegasus is a spyware developed by the NSO Group, an Israeli security company, and is known for invading iPhones and Android devices and collecting internal emails and location information. Pegasus was scattered in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, etc., and lawyers, activists, politicians, etc. were subject to surveillance.

The threat extends to Mexico, and in 2017 it is known that journalists, lawyers, and victims killed by cartels were targeted by Pegasus. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office in 2018, said: ``When we were in the opposition, we too suffered from espionage, but now it's banned. There is no abuse,' he said, appealing to the public to give them a sense of security.

But in 2021, new evidence was found that many politicians, including President Obrador himself, former President Enrique Peña Nieto, and Mayor Claudia Scheinbaum of Mexico City, were

selected as candidates for Pegasus surveillance. Although the actual number of victims is unknown, the investigation revealed that the Defense Secretariat and the National Security Intelligence Agency (CISEN) were behind the agency that operated Pegasus. CISEN has been dismantled after the inauguration of President Obrador.

R3D's re-exposition of the infection confirms that the government's attempts to end illegal espionage in Mexico have been unsuccessful, R3D claims.

R3D said, 'At this time, we cannot attribute the hacks to any particular organization. However, we believe that all victims were journalists with strong interests in organizations within the Mexican government and, in some cases, cartels. We are making the results public in the hope that this investigation will lead to the demolition once and for all of the intelligence agencies that are unaccountable, cause human rights abuses and deny society access to truth and justice.” said.