It is common among users of social networks to feel that they are being watched. At some point, everyone has felt that their online activities could be monitored. Although it sounds crazy, the truth is that there are software designed for this. Called spyware, some are considered real threats.
One such spyware that caused quite a bit of buzz recently was Pegasus. The program was developed by the Israeli company NSO and aims to capture personal information. A recent investigation found traces of the spyware on more than 50,000 devices.
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The purpose of Pegasus is not entirely clear, but it is believed to be used for political purposes. More specifically, it would be used to identify political opponents.
Therefore, Amnesty International has published a manual to identify if a device has been infected.
The tests involved 80 journalists from 10 different countries. Forbidden Stories coordinated the action in partnership with Amnesty International's Security Lab.
The analyzes were carried out on the devices of journalists and human rights defenders around the world. Both on iOS and Android devices, traces of Pegasus were eventually found.
Based on the material collected from the tests, Amnesty developed the Mobile Verification Toolkit (MVT). The software is open source to help information security experts detect threats.
To identify the traces of spyware, the ideal is to have prior knowledge in the area. However, it is possible to perform the tests on your own device. Step-by-step instructions on how to do this are explained below.
How to check if I've been hacked by Pegasus?
1 – Download the MVT program;
2 – Install Xcode available from the App Store;
3 – Get Python 3 and install the Homebrew package with the command “ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)”;
4 – Install libimobiledevice with the command “brew install –HEAD libimobiledevice”;
5 – Connect the device via USB and execute the “ideviceinfo” command;
6 – Copy the backup file and paste it in another folder;
7 – Decrypt the backup file;
8 – Check the log files extracted by MVT.
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