Some 50,000 phone numbers would have been leaked.
The cell phones of nearly three dozen journalists and activists in El Salvador were hacked with sophisticated Pegasus spyware, Canada’s Citizen Lab has discovered and Amnesty International has confirmed.
The hack affected 37 devices of 35 people between July 2020 and November 2021, Citizen Lab said on Wednesday. Most of the hacked phones belong to journalists from the Salvadoran media The lighthouse, which has exposed the links between the Nayib Bukele government and gangs in that country.
So far it has not been verified who is behind the hack, although journalists from The lighthouse point to the government, something the government denies.
The research was conducted by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and digital rights group Access Now.
Amnesty International’s Security Laboratory independently confirmed the findings.
“Forensic analysis confirmed that each device was infected with NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware,” Amnesty International noted, noting that “the first signs of attack on the sampled devices occurred around July 30, 2020” and “The signs of threat or attempted attack continued until November 15, 2021,” quoted the Efe news agency.
Amnesty International detailed that “the targets included journalists from The lighthouse, CatClosed, The printing press, Disruptive Digital Magazine, The World Newspaper, Today’s Diary, and two independent journalists”, in addition to members of the organizations Fundación DTJ and Critosal.
What is Pegasus?
Pegasus is a sophisticated software designed by the Israeli company NSO Group. It infects devices that have iOS and Android systems, which allows you to extract messages, photos, emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones and cameras.
According to some sources, around the world more than 600 politicians and officials, 189 journalists, 64 business executives and 85 activists, among others, would have been victims of this espionage. Some 50,000 phone numbers would have been leaked.
And he has been in the spotlight ever since. Pegasus is blacklisted in the US. since last year after allegations that repressive governments were using the spyware to hack innocent people, including activists, politicians and journalists.
NSO Group denies the allegations., indicating that he does not put these tools in the hands of just anyone and that his clients are carefully valued.
Through a statement, the company said it sold its products only to legitimate intelligence agencies and law enforcement for use against terrorists and criminals, and that he did not know who his clients’ targets were.
The company declined to comment on whether El Salvador was a Pegasus client.
Citizen Lab researchers said they began a forensic analysis of phones from El Salvador in September, after being contacted by two Salvadoran journalists who suspected their devices might have been compromised.
Citizen Lab said it found telltale traces of spyware infections on the mobile phones of 22 reporters, editors, and administrative staff and evidence that data had been stolen from many of those devices, including several gigabytes.
reactions
In a statement to ReutersBukele’s communications office said that the Salvadoran government is not a client of NSO Group Technologies. He noted that the administration is investigating the alleged hack and has information that the phones of some high-level officials may also have been hacked.
“We have indications that we, government officials, are also being victims of attacks,” he said in a statement.
“The interventions and espionage of which we have been victims in The lighthouse they imply that those responsible have had access to everything about our communications and the information stored on our cell phones,” denounced the head of information for the outlet, journalist Óscar Martínez.
“It is hard for me to think or conclude anything other than that it is the government of El Salvador” behind the alleged attacks, Martínez said. “It is evident that there is a radical interest in understanding what it is that The lighthouse is doing,” he added.
Carlos Martinez, an investigative journalist for the publication, said the hackers spent 269 days inside his phone. “For 269 days they invaded my privacy,” he denounced on Twitter.
They stayed 269 days inside my phone. 269 days invaded my privacy. We’ll talk about it on this live. Join us. https://t.co/DDJup1ty19
– Carlos Martínez (@chelefaro) January 13, 2022
During the time of the supposed infiltrations with Pegasus, The lighthouse reported on scandals related to the Bukele government, including accusations that he was negotiating a deal with violent street gangs to reduce the murder rate in order to boost popular support for President Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party.
Bukele, who frequently argues with the press, publicly condemned the information of The lighthouse about those alleged conversations as “ridiculous” and “false information” on his Twitter account from September 3, 2020.
Telephone espionage is not new in El Salvador, says Citizen Lab.
A 2020 report stated that El Salvador was one of 25 countries using mass surveillance technology made by an Israeli company called Circles, whose technology differs from Pegasus in that it collects data from the global telephone network rather than installing spyware on specific devices.
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