Named after the famous Greek winged horse, Pegasus is spyware that has been used to collect information from journalists, political dissidents, members of governments and even, recently, Spanish President Pedro Sánchez. Let’s review everything we know about this tool and answer the main questions that may arise.
What is Pegasus?
Pegasus is spyware created by the Israeli company NSO Group. The purpose of this software is collect as much data as possible from the devices it infiltratesfrom photos to text messages, calls and other information.
Thanks to Pegasus, activists, political dissidents, journalists and other personalities around the world have seen your personal information, communications and activities monitored remotely. Something that, by the way, we learned almost by accident, since it was a malicious image on an iPhone that triggered its discovery.
Why is Pegasus so dangerous?
Let’s clarify a few concepts. The Pegasus software itself is quite simple. It is an application that can be installed on an iPhone to capture all its activity and send it to some servers. No, it’s not an app that can be downloaded from the App Store, of course, but on its own, it’s little more than a very well-designed app for its specific purpose.
What makes Pegasus so dangerous is exactly what many of us raise our hands in our heads when we hear that the European Union wants to allow us to install any app from any source on our iPhone: lack of control.
“You can’t just create a backdoor for the good guys” —Tim Cook
Pegasus gains access to the system by jailbreaking the device before installing itself. This means that any software that wants to, in this case Pegasus, can run unsigned code on the operating system. Code that, unlike what Apple reviews before accepting an app on the App Store, allows you to access the entire system without further ado and do it silently.
Can my iPhone be infected with Pegasus?
The short answer is yes. The long comes next. Pegasus uses zero-day exploits to jailbreak the device without a trace. A zero-day exploit, potentially present on the iPhone and any device with an operating system, is one security flaw that someone has discovered, but the manufacturer is not aware of
The importance of reviewing the code instead of allowing apps to be installed from any source.
Now, can my iPhone really be infected with Pegasus? The truth is that we are talking about very targeted attacks. Attacks costing approx. 96,000 dollars per unit. For this reason, from the start, unless we are a complete personality, we must assume that no one is as interested in spying on us. The truth is that Pegasus’ abilities are somewhat shrouded in mystery and constantly evolving. The same evolution that Apple continues to close security holes and protect our data and devices with every update.
How do I check if my iPhone is infected with Pegasus?
As we have just explained, the best thing to do is to keep all our devices up to date, since Apple periodically closes security holes. Beyond the good habit of quickly updating to the latest available version, one can check if an iPhone has been infected with pegasus. A process, it must be said, quite simple, using specialized tools that we can download on our Mac.
However, the summary of the situation is as follows. Any developer can make a mistake that leads to a vulnerability. These vulnerabilities can be used to bypass system restrictions and install any application, for example Pegasus. Pegasus targets are very specific, considering their high price, so we as ordinary citizens should not worry. beyond everything, very important: always keep our devices up to date.
pictures | Mike Baumeister
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