Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp, has criticised NSO's spyware Pegasus, which has been claimed to be used by several governments to track over 50,000 numbers, in the latest leak, that are associated with journalists, human rights activists, and lawyers.
A WhatsApp advertisement is seen on the front pages of newspapers (Image: Reuters)
Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp, has come down heavily on the news and said that the "NSO's dangerous spyware is used to commit horrible human rights abuses all around the world, and it must be stopped."
Pegasus is among highly rated spyware or modular malware, as Kaspersky described in 2017, that have been reported in recent times. It is a tool that's not limited to any device or software application. It can be installed by sending a malicious link to a target device, and it is seamless enough to be identified by the person using the targeted device.
In a series of tweets, Cathcart has put forward some points and defended how WhatsApp in 2019 fought back against the tool from NSO. "In 2019, WhatsApp discovered and defeated an attack from NSO. They rely on unknown vulnerabilities in mobile OSes, which is one of the reasons why we felt it was so important to raise awareness of what we'd found," he tweeted.
He added that in 2019, WhatsApp worked with CitizenLab, which identified over 100 cases of abusive targeting of human rights defenders and journalists in more than 20 countries. "But today's reporting shows that the true scale of abuse is even larger, and with terrifying national security implications," Cathcart adds.
He suggested that companies and governments, especially, hold NSO Group accountable for this unwanted tracking. "Once again, we urge a global moratorium on the use of unaccountable surveillance technology now. It's past time," he added.
Cathcart claimed that this should be seen as a wake-up call for security on the Internet as smartphones are the primary device for many people. Governments and companies should do everything to secure it as much as possible. "Our security and freedom depend on it," he added.
"That's why we continue to defend end-to-end encryption so tirelessly. To those who have proposed weakening end-to-end encryption: deliberately weakening security will have terrifying consequences for us all," Cathcart said.
Cathcart also has lauded the efforts of Microsoft, Google, Cisco, VMWare, and more, who have spoken against the use of spyware tools by groups like NSO.
In the latest episode of Pegasus data leak, a list of over 50,000 phone numbers believed to be of interest to government clients of NSO Groups since 2016 has surfaced. The Guardian, in a report, claims that the analysis of the leaked data shows "at least 10 governments" to be NSO clients, including India.
However, the Indian government has outright denied these allegations. In response to the Guardian, the government said, "The commitment to free speech as a fundamental right is the cornerstone of India's democratic system. We have always strived to attain an informed citizenry with an emphasis on a culture of open dialogue."
The government of India also claims that the story has been crafted in such a way that the conclusions are skewed. "However, the questionnaire sent to the government of India indicates that the story being crafted is one that is not only bereft of facts but also founded in pre-conceived conclusions. It seems you are trying to play the role of an investigator, prosecutor as well as jury," the government said in response to the Guardian around the latest NSO leak.
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