What is Pegasus spyware? It’s the latest spyware to hit global mobile users. This android software is used for state-level cyber-surveillance. This news was unveiled by the Guardian after a strong and thorough search through thousands of infected devices.
Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos, and emails, record calls, and secretly activate microphones. This allows it to record calls, copy messages. And secretly film the owner (and those nearby) on any device that has been compromised.
Unlike the malware used by cybercriminals to make money by stealing. Once it has secretly infected a smartphone (Android or iOS), it can turn into a fully-fledged surveillance device. This is scary considering that we carry our phones everywhere with us.
What is Pegasus and how it infects your mobile?
The scary thing about Pegasus spyware is that it penetrates phones with “zero-click” attacks. Meaning a user does not even need to click on a malicious link for their phone to be infected. Pegasus relies on the vulnerabilities of your installed apps to hide and infect your phone.
NSO Group(the company that created Pegasus) has a specialized team of researchers who probe and analyze every minute detail of operating systems like Android and iOS. They find weaknesses in OS and apps. These weaknesses are then turned into ways to burrow into a device, bypassing all the normal security.
To infect a device an attack vector or infiltration process is required. These attack vectors are often links sent in SMS messages or WhatsApp messages. Clicking the link takes the user to a page that carries an initial spyware payload.
The payload has one job: to try and exploit the 0-day vulnerability. Unfortunately, there are also zero-click exploits that require no interactions with the user at all. For example, Pegasus actively exploited bugs in iMessage and Facetime during 2019 that meant it could install itself on a phone just by placing a call to the target device.