speaker20 YearsProtectstar celebrates its birthday. Find out what’s waiting for you!Learn more

Is pegasus from NSO Group detected by Anti Spy and Antivirus AI?

The Pegasus software was developed by the Israeli technology company NSO Group and is intended to help fight terrorism and crime. NSO Group only sells its software to certain countries and has a list of 50 countries to which it does not deliver (e.g., China and Russia). However, the company delivers to Saudi Arabia. It is assumed that the software will only be used to fight terrorism and crime, so the NSO Group argues. However, you cannot give more precise details since you only grant the license and provide technical support. However, there are doubts that the NSO Group only provides technical support.

Pegasus is modular spyware for iOS and Android. In 2016, the first version of Pegasus for Apple iOS was discovered, later, a version for Android.

The infection usually occurs as follows: The victim receives an SMS with a link; if this is clicked, the device becomes infected with the spyware. In addition, according to public information, the spyware exploits zero-day vulnerabilities found in the system to infect iOS.

In 2017, the Android version of Pegasus Spyware was able to read the victim's SMS and emails, listen to calls, take screenshots, record keystrokes, and access contacts and browsing history. However, Pegasus is quite complex and expensive malware designed to spy on people of special interest, so the average user is unlikely to encounter it.

In addition, the spyware is known to exploit zero-day vulnerabilities in the system to infect iOS. These are vulnerabilities that are not known to the developer and for which an update/patch has not yet been released, but which cybercriminals can exploit to carry out a variety of types of attack, including targeted attacks on specific organizations or people.

Both spyware and zero-day vulnerabilities are sold and bought by different groups in the Darknet. The price for vulnerabilities can reach $ 2.5 million - that's how much was offered in 2019 for all of the existing vulnerabilities in Android. Interestingly, that year, for the first time, an Android vulnerability turned out to be more expensive than an iOS vulnerability.

The Protectstar apps such as Anti Spy PRO and Firewall PRO for Android successfully detect infections with Pegasus spyware on Android devices.

Further helpful information at:

https://edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/ns-oh-god-how-is-this-legal

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/07/the-pegasus-project/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2021/07/forensic-methodology-report-how-to-catch-nso-groups-pegasus/

Was this article helpful? Yes No
53 out of 54 people found this article helpful