Amnesty's disclosure that 'Pegasus' has targeted leading journalists in the country Pegasus Used to Target The Wire's Founding Editor, Reporter Working on Adani, Amnesty Confirms

New Delhi: Amnesty International's security lab has found evidence that Israeli spy software Pegasus was installed on the phones of two prominent journalists in India. The phones of Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire and Anand Manganale of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) were found to have been hacked by Pegasus. In an article published in the Washington Post, Amnesty revealed that journalists in India were victimized by Pegasus.

This is the second time that Siddharth Varadarajan's phone is being detected by Pegasus. In 2021, Amnesty released the information of people whose phones were hacked globally through the 'Pegasus Project'. Even then, Pegasus was found on Siddharth Varadarajan's phone. The Pegasus Project was worked on by an international media group. The presence of Pegasus spy software was found in the phones of journalists, opposition leaders, human rights activists and others.

According to the Washington Post report, the Pegasus attack on the phone of Anand Manganale, a journalist of OCCRP, was carried out following an investigation related to the business dealings of the Adani Group. On August 23, OCCRP had sent an email to the Adani Group seeking a response to an article on Adani's violation of the law. Amnesty's investigation revealed that Pegasus had hacked Anand Manganale's phone within 24 hours of sending this e-mail.

In October, Apple warned Pegasus victims in India. Apple has warned its customers that there is an attack by 'government sponsored hackers'. This created a huge political controversy in the country. According to the Washington Post report, government sources put intense pressure on Apple to correct the warning. The new report also stated that Pegasus is still present in the phones of journalists in India.

Pegasus spy software is manufactured by Israeli company NSO Group. Pegasus can hack into people's phones without their knowledge, leak information and make changes. Meanwhile, NSO Group says it only provides Pegasus to government agencies.