The PEGASUS

Prefix law and justice reserach foundation, Pegasus spyware, right to privacy, Supreme Court Reporting, Voice of Justice

The author of this article is VISMAYA SHAJI, who is a B.A., LL.B Hon’s Degree Student of CSI College For Legal Studies Kanakkary, Kottayam. She is also working as an Editor Trainee of ljrfvoice.com. Moreover, the author is a member of Law and Justice Research Foundation, Kottayam.

THE APEX COURT ON THE DATE OF 27^th OCTOBER 2021 ISSUED AN INTERIM ORDER BY APPOINTING A THREE-MEMBER PROBE PANEL TO INVESTIGATE ON PEGASUS SPYWARE ALLEGATIONS. THE BENCH COMPRISING CHIEF JUSTICE N. V. RAMANA, JUSTICES SURYA KANT AND JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI WILL AGAIN HEAR THIS CONSTITUTIONALLY IMPORTANT CASE AFTER EIGHT WEEKS FROM THE LAST HEARD DATE.

“Every citizen needs protection against privacy violation and mere invocation of ‘National Security by State’ does not render the court a ‘mute spectator’

– The Supreme Court of India”.

What is PEGASUS?

This is one of the most asked questions when the world first heard about the most notorious spyware- PEGASUS. The name of this particular spyware has a Greek mythological origin somehow that can be connected to the power of this spyware to take away the right to privacy of any human on this earth, also it’s limitless freedom and ability to destroy democracy and to create a world where the group which controls Pegasus can easily rule. This sophisticated malware can control the life of a person or to be very much clearer it can control the entire world. Once installed on a phone, Pegasus can get any information or extract any file, SMS messages, address books, call history, calendars, emails and internet browsing histories can all be filtered as per their wish.

PEGASUS – FROM THE FLYING HORSE TO THE SENSATIONAL SPYWARE :

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! – from Shakespeare’s Richard III, now this are the most appropriate lines to describe current situation of governments who spy up on its citizens beyond every limit with the help of a horse named powerful spyware, yes it is true that the name of this era’s most dangerous spyware is given to it in the honour of this world’s ever favourite and famous horse – The PEGASUS.

Immortal Pegasus is the most famous horse ever in mythology, born from the Gorgon monster Medusa who was slain by the brave warrior Perseus. After the hero beheaded Medusa, Pegasus sprang from the gushing blood of her and stood proud and strong. He was a grand white stallion who is depicted with wings – which forms a splendid figure. In a text, Pegasus the offspring of Poseidon and Medusa is described as follows: As it glided above the clouds and beneath the stars, the sky was it’s earth and its wings were it’s feet. Pegasus is also associated with Bellerophon, in which Pegasus was given to Bellerophon by Athena as a help in the task of slaying Chimeras and also in the mission of destroying Solumos of Amazons. But when Bellerophon, after numerous victories wanted himself to be among the Gods in mount Olympia, began the journey for achieving his new desire by riding Pegasus. Zeus the chief of Gods busted out with anger and decided to punish that brave mortal by sending a fly to bite in the back of Pegasus so that he (Pegasus) may drop his master Bellerophon from his back in the middle of sky to far down to the earth. This resulted in the tragic end of Bellerophon’s egoistic ambition.

On the top of all these stories the presence of Pegasus can also be traced in myths in the Asiatic Shamans rituals and songs. More than that it is also connected to European culture, which is a sort of motherland for the horses as they have always captured the imagination of people since the dawn of time.

Perhaps Pegasus of Olympian Mount did not exist but he is through various stories of myths even though today’s sensational malware Pegasus. Pegasus is usually depicted as a naive, courageous, righteous creature which represent unlimited power, limitless freedom and creative mind but the Pegasus the spyware can not be called naive and righteous, yes it can be described as courageous for threatening the privacy and even life of humans, it hold unlimited power because it is the most modern, well developed and efficient spyware of this age which gives Pegasus limitless freedom. The minds of its developers are highly creative which undoubtedly makes Pegasus more creative in nature than any other spyware because it can work like a well prefect art, not only able to keep an eye but also can manipulate in the most sophisticated manner.

The birth of this gigantic spyware happened from the brain of most efficient professionals in NSO private limited and it holds the power to destroy the well cherished democracy.

“After all, then and now the arrival of Pegasus always marks the coming of storms.”

THE MASTERMIND BEHIND THE GREAT THREAT:

NSO: The name of the company can be decoded as Niv, Shalev and Omri- the creators of the gigantic technology group N (Niv) S (Shalev) O (Omri). As per the details it was in 2010 NSO got established and as per records NSO is under the Q cyber technology group. NSO in the past decade has had an annual revenue of over five million USB. However this company has its own fair share of controversies.

Now Pegasus is the main armour of this group, a spyware which has Israel government’s approval and also it was identified that this spyware is the most demanding product in the technical global market. which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones It was founded in 2010 by Niv Karmi, Omri Lavie, and Shalev Hulio. It employed almost 500 people as of 2017, and is based in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Israel.

“You didn’t know about the software’s very wide use against dozens of journalists in dozens of countries, to know what they are doing?” said anchor Ilana Dayan on Israeli Army Radio on July 22. “You didn’t know that the ruler of Dubai used Pegasus to track his daughter and wife?… You also didn’t know that your software was installed in the phone of the fiancée of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered by representatives of the regime in Riyadh? All that you didn’t know?” All this is proof of how threatening this Pegasus is and to what extent it can be used.

CLIENTS OF PEGASUS:

It is a sad truth that governments are spying beyond every limit, one who is chosen to be the guardian dares to be an antagonist, this is the fact that reveals from this incident. In the shadows of national security, the government cannot break the security and privacy of a nation’s people. It was officially declared by NSO group that they do not have any private persons as their customers and all their customers are the respective governments of each nation, bitter truth to hear but still it is an acceptable act at least from a few governments. In the future, who knows what the citizens of such nations may go through.

But it can be said that in case of India it is a clear out violation of the basic Fundamental Rights of its citizens as the honourable bench already stated the government is not allowed to do anything or everything as they want in the shadows of national security, there is a written constitution for this nation, there are well structured system for the functioning of the nation and no one, on ruler is above the constitution of India in India.

“The ultimate responsibility is on the one who actually conducts the abuse.” – NSO general counsel Shmuel Sunray.

THESE ARE NAMES AND DETAILS OF THE TARGETS OF PEGASUS STILL REVEALED:

Emmanuel Macron: The French President.
Ashok Lavasa: A career bureaucrat, he was a potential target of surveillance when he was an election commissioner.

Rahul Gandhi: The Congress party leader who was presumed prime ministerial candidate for the past two general elections.
Alankar Sawai: A close aide of Rahul Gandhi.
Sachin Rao: Another side of Rahul Gandhi who is a member of the Congress Working Committee.

Prashant Kishor: An election strategist who has worked for several political parties, including the BJP and the Congress. His phone was forensically analysed and showed signs of a successful hack.
Abhishek Banerjee: A Trinamool Congress MP who is the nephew of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Ashwini Vaishnaw: A former IAS officer who was made a Union cabinet minister in the recent expansion.
Prahlad Singh Patel: Another cabinet minister in the Union government, his wife, secretaries, assistants, cook and gardener, etc.

Pravin Togadia: Former head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Pradeep Awasthi: Personal secretary to former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia.

Sanjay Kachroo: A corporate executive who was chosen by then human resource development minister Smriti Irani as her officer on special duty in 2014, but was never formally appointed. His was listed along with his father and minor son.
G. Parameshwara: Deputy chief minister in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka, which was toppled after several MLAs defected to the BJP.
Satish: Personal secretary to H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was chief minister of Karnataka.

Venkatesh: Personal secretary to Siddaramaiah, who was the Congress chief minister of Karnataka before Kumaraswamy.
Manjunath Muddegowda: Security personnel of former prime minister and JD(S) president H.D. Devegowda.
Samujjal Bhattacharjee: An advisor to the All Assam Students Union and member of the high level committee to look into the implementation of Clause Six of the Assam Accord.
Anup Chetia: A leader of the United Liberation Front of Assam.
Malem Ningthouja: A Delhi-based writer who is from Manipur.
A former Supreme Court staffer: The woman had accused then chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment. Several members of her family were also potential targets for surveillance.

M.K. Venu: A founding editor of The Wire. His phone was also forensically analysed and traces of Pegasus were found.
Sushant Singh: Former Indian Express journalist who writes on national security. After a forensic analysis of his phone, Amnesty arrived at the conclusion that it had been compromised.
Siddharth Varadarajan: A founding editor of The Wire, his phone was forensically analysed. The analysis showed that the phone was compromised by Pegasus.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta: Former EPW editor, who now writes for News click. His phone was compromised by Pegasus, forensic analysis revealed.
S.N.M. Abdi: Former Outlook journalist, whose phone was compromised according to forensic analysis.
Vijaita Singh: The Hindu journalist who covers the home ministry. Forensic analysis of her phone showed evidence of an attempted hack, but no evidence of a successful compromise.
Smita Sharma: Former TV18 anchor. Forensic analysis found evidence of an attempted hack but nothing to indicate that her phone was successfully infected.
Shishir Gupta: Executive editor at Hindustan Times
Rohini Singh: Freelance journalist who has written several exposes for The Wire about controversial business dealings of politicians or their family members.
Devirupa Mitra: The Wire‘s diplomatic editor.
Prashant Jha: Views editor of Hindustan Times, formerly the bureau chief.
Hany Babu M.T: Professor at Delhi University who is an accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Rona Wilson: A prisoners’ rights activist who is another accused in the Elgar Parishad case.

Vernon Gonsalves: A rights activist. He is also accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Anand Teltumbde: An academic and civil liberties activist who is accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Shoma Sen: Retired professor and one of the accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Gautam Navlakha: A journalist and rights activist who is accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Arun Ferreira: A lawyer who is also accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Sudha Bhardwaj: Activist and lawyer and accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Pavana: The daughter of Telugu poet Varavara Rao, who is accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Minal Gadling: The wife of lawyer Surendra Gadling, who is accused in the Elgar Parishad case.
Nihalsing Rathod: A lawyer and associate of Surendra Gadling.
Jagadish Meshram: Another lawyer who is associated with Surendra Gadling.

Maruti Kurwatkar: An accused in several cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He was represented by Surendra Gadling.
Shalini Gera: A lawyer who has represented Sudha Bharadwaj.
Ankit Grewal: A close legal associate of Sudha Bharadwaj.
Jaison Cooper: Kerala-based rights activist who is a friend of Anand Teltumbde.
Rupali Jadhav: A member of cultural troupe Kabir Kala Manch.
Lalsu Nagoti: A lawyer who is a close associate of Mahesh Raut, who is accused in the Elgar Parishad case.

Soni Sori: Tribal rights activist who is based in Bastar.
Lingaram Kodopi: A journalist and the nephew of Soni Sori.
Degree Prasad Chouhan: An anti-caste activist who is the Chhattisgarh state president of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
Rakesh Ranjan: An assistant professor at the Sri Ram College of Commerce.
Prem Shankar Jha: A veteran journalist who held editorial positions at Hindustan Times, the Times of India and several other newspapers. He is a regular contributor to The Wire.
Swati Chaturvedi: Freelance journalist who has contributed to The Wire. She wrote a book about the infamous BJP IT Cell.
Rahul Singh: Defence correspondent for Hindustan Times.

Aurangzeb Naqshbandi: A political reporter who formerly worked for Hindustan Times and covered the Congress party.
Ritika Chopra: A journalist for the Indian Express who covers the education and Election Commission beats.
Muzamil Jaleel: Another Indian Express journalist who covers Kashmir.
Sandeep Unnithan: India Today journalist who reports on defence and the Indian military.

Manoj Gupta: Editor of investigations and security affairs at TV18.
J. Gopikrishnan: An investigative reporter with The Pioneer, he broke the 2G telecom scam.
Saikat Datta: Formerly a national security reporter.
Ifthikar Gilani: Former DNA reporter who reports on Kashmir.
Manoranjan Gupta: North-east based editor in chief of Frontier TV.

Sanjay Shyam: A Bihar-based journalist.
Jaspal Singh Heran: An octogenarian who is the editor-in-chief of the Ludhiana-based Punjabi daily Rozana Pehredar.

Roopesh Kumar Singh: A freelancer based in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh.
Deepak Gidwani: Former correspondent of DNA, Lucknow.
Sumir Kaul: A journalist for news agency PTI.

Shabir Hussain: A Delhi-based political commentator from Kashmir.
Hari Menon: The Indian head of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Alok Verma: Former chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Verma was added to the list soon after he was ousted by the central government. The personal telephone numbers of his wife, daughter and son-in-law would eventually get placed on the list too, making it a total of 8 numbers from this one family.
Rakesh Asthana: Asthana, then a senior CBI officer, was added to the list the same time as Verma. He is seen to be close to the central government’s dispensation and currently heads the BSF.
A.K. Sharma: Another senior CBI official, added to the list at the same time as Asthana and Verma.
Anil Ambani: Reliance ADAG chairman. The phone numbers that have been used by Anil Ambani were added to the list in 2018, when controversy over the Rafale deal had intensified.
Tony Jesudasan: Corporate communications chief at ADAG. His number was added at the same time as Ambani’s. A number used by Jesudasan’s wife is also on the list.
Venkata Rao Posina: Dassault Aviation’s representative in India.
Inderjit Sial: Former Saab India head.
Pratyush Kumar: Boeing India boss.
Harmanjit Nagi: Head of the French energy firm EDF.
Tempa Tsering: Dalai Lama’s long-term envoy in New Delhi.
Tenzin Taklha: Senior aide of the Dalai Lama’s.
Chimmey Rigzen: Senior aide of the Dalai Lama’s.
Lobsang Sangay: Former head of the Tibetan government in exile.
Bilal Lone: A separatist leader and brother of Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone. His phone was forensically examined. Even though the device he was using is not the same as the one he used when he was potentially targeted as per the leaked database, forensic analysis revealed signs of Pegasus spyware.
Tariq Bihari: Brother of Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari. He is a businessman and political leader who was questioned by the NIA in April 2019 for a ‘terror funding’ case.
Syed Naseem Geelani: A scientist who is the son of prominent separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq: A separatist leader and head of the Hurriyat Conference, he is the chief cleric of the Jama Masjid.
Waqar Bhatti: Prominent human rights activist.
Zaffar Akbar Bhat: An influential Shia cleric who is associated with the Hurriyat and a prominent separatist leader.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: He is now the president of Mexico, but was targeted before his election in 2018. Several of his aides were also targeted.
Emmanuel Macron: The president of France.
Imran Khan: The prime minister of Pakistan.
Mostafa Madbouly: The prime minister of Egypt.
Saad-Eddine El Othmani: The prime minister of Morocco.
Barham Salih: The president of Iraq.
Cyril Ramaphosa: The president of South Africa.
Mohammed VI: Morocco’s king.
Saad Hariri: Former prime minister of Lebanon.
Ruhakana Rugunda: Former prime minister of Uganda.
Noureddine Bedoui: Former prime minister of Algeria.
Charles Michel: Former prime minister of Belgium who is currently the president of the European Council.
Panah Huseynov: Former prime minister of Azerbaijan.
Felipe Calderon: Former Mexican president.
Hatice Cengiz: A Turkish doctorate student who was engaged to Jamal Khashoggi. Her phone was analysed forensically.
Hanan Elatr: She was married to Khashoggi. Her phone was also forensically analysed.
Wadah Khanfar: The former director general of Al Jazeera television network. His phone was forensically analysed.

Turan Kislakci: A Turkish journalist who introduced Khashoggi to Cengiz.
Irfan Fidan: The Turkish chief prosecutor in charge of investigations into Khashoggi’s murder.
Sheikha Latifa: A member of the Dubai royal family and the daughter of UAE’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. When she attempted to flee her father’s custody, she was captured by Indian forces near Goa and sent back to Dubai.
Haya bint Hussein: Estranged wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
David Haigh: British activist and lawyer who was involved in the campaign to release Sheikha Latifa and is consulting with the legal team of Princess Haya bint Hussein. Forensic analysis of his phone has confirmed that it was infected by Pegasus.

The current known list is long and there are more names to add on this all shows how much influence this particular spyware can have in the world.

Pegasus can also be installed over a wireless transceiver located near a target, or, according to an NSO brochure, simply manually installed if an agent can steal the target’s phone. Once activated it works more efficiently than any other spyware giving full access of the device to the control. Then that device is no longer controlled or used by the actual owner of the device but it will become that spy which works as per the orders of it’s controller. It is scary and life-changing.

THE GREAT THREAT FOR DEMOCRACY :

It can bypass one’s privacy and security by installing this spyware that grants complete access to your device that means it can access every message, every photos, videos, mails, it can turn on the microphone even when you are not using, it can record what you’re doing, it can access your GPS and monitor your location. It can do all this without you ever knowing about it which makes Pegasus the most brilliant spyware ever developed.

Any end to encrypted communication is meaningless once Pegasus is on your device and both iOS and Android are vulnerable. Which means the use of Pegasus is an end of privacy for it’s targets, this has very serious ramifications and effects people’s legitimate secrets which leads to taking control of people’s life in a sophisticated way that finding the presence of Pegasus is an absolute difficult task. The most serious implication of Pegasus is that it can transform a democratic state in to a dictatorial regime because it is already proven that regimes and systems were obsessive about monitoring their populations so that they can control them from rising up and overthrowing them. This spyware technology exponentially increases that capacity which means it poses a greater threat to democracy.

INDIA AND IT’S JUDICIARY OVER PEGASUS SPYWARE :

It is true that the government is having certain privileges as exceptions to rights but it doesn’t mean that the government is having absolute power. Taking control of one’s phone is beyond spying and that is what the use of Pegasus is for, according to section 43 of IT Act hacking is explicitly forbidden. Violation of citizens’ rights by the government itself makes this more serious.

On 27^th October 2021 in the matter of Pegasus Spyware Case the Supreme Court of India passed an interim order which was welcomed by some senior advocates as “historic”, “watershed” and as “prima facie indictment of the Central Government”. The underlying message in this order from the apex court and its narration is important that the right to privacy and freedom of expression cannot be sacrificed by saying it as national security. In 1997, the Supreme Court of India pronounced judgment in the case of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) v. Union of India¹ (SC, 1997), which laid the groundwork for the right to privacy in the context of telephonic surveillance. Then 2017, nine judges bench of the Honourable Supreme Court in the landmark case of Justice Puttaswamy V. Union of India² stated that the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right and then in the context of wiretaps in the October 2019 judgment in Vinit Kumar v. Central Bureau of Investigations and Ors³ (Bombay HC, 2019) (Vinit Kumar Case), in which the Bombay High Court outlined the ambit of the State’s power to surveil its subjects particularly on matters that do not fall within the category of ‘public emergency or interest’.

This continued scooping into the privacy of others is a shame and such happenings on a regular basis can assault the quality of one’s life. Also this can dilute the quality of our democracy. But in the light of this interim order of the Apex Court, the nation can expect to get a just decision against the infringement of basic human rights which are the fundamental rights of the people of India.

WORLD’S REACTION TO PEGASUS SPYWARE :

US has already blacklisted NSO group and on the top of all this rejections and controversies, it was reported by an Israeli newspaper that Mr. Itzik Benbenisti, the would-be CEO of Israeli spyware company NSO Group, has resigned from his post on Thursday that is on November 11, just two weeks after he was appointed as the CEO of NSO. It is assumed that this was because of NSOs rising negative impression all around the globe. Mr. Itzik Benbenisti’s this act of resigning from NSO is not an astonishing occurrence as this shows how frustrated people are with this limitless harmful spying.

On November 4^th 2021 Lawmaker Lajos Kosa, who chairs the parliamentary defence and law enforcement committee, admitted that: “yes,” Hungary had purchased Pegasus software from Israeli company NSO Group. But Prime Minister Viktor Orban had been unwilling to confirm whether the Hungarian government used Pegasus or not, but reports state that still now it has not been used.

Pegasus had made headlines before this year when Journalists in Mexico were reportedly targeted with this spyware. In 2016, WhatsApp sued NSO for using an exploit in the messaging app to hack people’s phones, and moreover the FBI is said to have looked into the company in relation to Jeff Bezos’ phone being hacked. Also in the 2018 murder case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October month of 2018, while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. His body was then dismembered. Later after investigation it was found that Pegasus spyware was installed on his fiancée’s phone just days after his murder, and that his wife’s phone was targeted with spyware between September 2017 and April 2018.

Pegasus could have been also used across Turkey, Israel, Thailand, Qatar, Kenya, Uzbekistan, Mozambique, Morocco, Yemen, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Bahrain.

In blacklisting NSO group the Department of Commerce says that NSO being added to the entity list, which restricts US companies from exporting products to it because the company “poses a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”

CONCLUSION :

Well spying on people through a malicious software is to all intents, constructions and purposes not a minor misdemeanour especially when it can be used to destroy a life, therefore everyone even the governing body is entitled to obey the norms of fundamental rights without any fail. Whoever disobeys the constitutional rights shall be convicted in order to uphold the faith of citizens in the law and order system of the nation. In every aspect the Pegasus attack cannot be considered as forgivable. The Constitution is the mother document which clearly mentions the rights of its people where privacy and security of the people of India is the essence for a harmonious state.

Security of citizens and the protection of their rights as well as their life is guaranteed under our constitution as fundamental rights. The order passed by the honourable Supreme Court on 27^th of October 2021 can be seen as a primary step in the process of delivering justice with respect to the Constitution of the nation.

This will be marked as a landmark case, we all the people of India truly believe in the spirit of the Constitution therefore hoping that justice shall be done with the help of a Supreme Court appointed committee headed by former Justice Raveendra without any shilly-shally. These unpleasant happenings are truly flashing lights over the importance of constitutional rights of citizens, determining it’s boundaries and duty of the government. After all, the Nation is waiting for the next hearing of the honourable Apex Court with the faith to live in a more secure nation as guaranteed under the Indian Constitution.

END NOTES :

¹ AIR 1997 SC 568

² (2017) 10 SCC 1

³ wp-2367 of 19(J).doc

REFERENCE :

Right to Privacy Under Indian Law- Kiran Deshta

Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union Of India Citation(s) Writ Petition (Civil) No 494 of 2012; (2017) 10 SCC 1; AIR 2017 SC 4161
Constitution of India- Bare Act (2020)