Pegasus is a software developed by NSO Group, an Israeli company specializing in computer security. This tool is intended to extract all information from any mobile device. It seems that this tool is directly developed for devices with iOS operating system, come on, for Apple smartphones.
How does this Pegasus spyware work?
The first thing we need to know is that it is a type of software zero-click. Surely you don’t know what it means, well, it’s that simple that the user doesn’t need to interact with this software to infect the device.
Malware is usually injected through a link that takes us to a site where the malware is stored. It can also be “pasted” to a file, such as a photo or document. But in this case, it’s nothing like that, it’s just injected and that’s it.
This tool infects systems via iMessage and WhatsApp apps. It was developed to sneak through these tools as they are used by most users. As they are common tools, a larger number of users can be reached.
Pegasus is not the problem on PC
Everything indicates no. It seems that Pegasus spyware is specifically developed for iOSthe operating system of smartphones from Apple. These tools, in many cases, are developed to take advantage of certain vulnerabilities. It looks like Pegasus is taking advantage of a series of vulnerabilities present since iOS 7.
Although we are not affected by Pegasus, there is a lot more malware out there. Windows is also not an impregnable operating system, moreover, there is no operating system without vulnerabilities.
For example, there is the Surgum spyware, a piece of malware that serves more or less the same purpose as Pegasus. Such software has already been detected in Europe and may affect computers with the Windows operating system. It is estimated that this tool has already been used to spy on more than 100 different personalities.
An interesting thing about Sourgum is that he was developed by Candiru, an Israeli cybersecurity company (yes, like the developer of Pegasus). This company develops spyware that it sells to various governments.
How can I protect myself from these spyware?
In principle, there is no real way to protect yourself, because they are tools that do not need us to “activate” them. The only way is for Microsoft and Apple to release security updates that fix the vulnerabilities. For this reason, it is important to update the device when updates are reported to us.
We shouldn’t get paranoid about these tools either, because the average user is not the target audience. These are tools designed to spy on politicians, journalists, activists or political dissidents, among others.
But we are not without risk, there are significant security risks. Phishing attempts, malicious emails that want to steal different credentials, fraud attempts, etc. We must be aware that there are cheating attempts and we must access verified and reliable sites.
The national police usually report different types of tricks against the user who seek to steal their credentials. Just be careful and avoid accessing strange websites and beware of emails with a strange sender or text messages from banks or services with shortened links.
