Many could be wondering why the immortal winged horse called ‘Pegasus’ has been trending all over the internet for the past few days?? Some of us are aware of the tales of ‘Pegasus’ in Greek Mythology. To give you a quick recap, the heavenly mysterious creature was able to perform any act, almost everything, and symbolized the divine ride to heaven.
In Greek Mythology it was considered a creature that was gentle, goodhearted, and a journey to heaven with him was divine. He was the most loyal in his service to Zeus. He was honored with immortality by Zeus and was told that the day ‘Pegasus’ dies, the winged horse (Pegasus) would turn into a constellation in the sky.
What is ‘Pegasus’ spyware?
To put this in simple words, ‘Pegasus’ in the context of the internet is malware that was used to spy on people including some politicians, activists, and key journalists. The spyware’s creator is an Israeli security firm, NSO Group, that sells these tools to government agencies, leading to issues like hacking, compromising of personal data and of national security. The term ‘Pegasus’ has been circulating on the internet since 2016 and has been a matter of concern to various government authorities of different countries.
According to the 2019 reports of Claudio Guarnieri, head of the security lab at Amnesty International, ‘it was said that it is designed for three things: collecting historic data and saving a backup on a device, continuous monitoring of activity, and transmission of this data to a third party’. Kaspersky security firm called it a total ‘surveillance tool’.
Pegasus is a sophisticated one that works with the principle of ‘zero clicks’ too. The infiltration is so wicked that the victim has no idea about his or her device having been hacked
‘DEMOCRACY DIES IN DARKNESS’
In an article by Craig Timbery in Washington Post on 19th July, it was brought to the notice of people that despite the high security, 23 iPhone devices were successfully hacked. Amnesty’s researchers strongly believe that Androids are vulnerable too.
‘BEWARE: TIME TO BE SHERLOCK’
Pegasus works in this way- why should we be careful? (Original article – from the Washington Post, used for reference)
Target: Someone sends what’s known as a trap link to a smartphone that persuades the victim to tap and activate — or activates itself without any input, as in the most sophisticated “zero-click” hacks.
Infect: The spyware captures and copies the phone’s most basic functions, NSO marketing materials show, including recording from the cameras and microphone and collecting location data, call logs, and contacts.
Track: The implant secretly reports that information to an operative who can use it to map out sensitive details of the victim’s life.
To conclude in a humorous way, Pegasus is stronger than Trojan as it can ‘fly in the air’ and infect the Phones. What do we need to do from saving ourselves from such attacks?
1.Avoid clicking on URLs sent over an SMS, e-mail, or coming from an unknown source.
2.Avoid falling into Phishing pits by not sharing your OTP, and any other personal details like bank account numbers, card details, and PINs.
3.Always have an anti-virus installed for your devices.
4.Use of strong passwords
5.Avoid storing data on Public Cloud
5.Being very careful on Social Media- Man! You are being followed.
6.Avoid downloading excessive and unknown Apps as far as possible
Good or Bad?, Right or Wrong? I think we know what is more sensible.
The safety of our devices, even if they are in our hands, can still not be guaranteed.
It’s time for us to be a little more careful and tech-savvy!
These are few things that we all need to do. All it takes is the use of premium paid-up accounts and being wiser enough to understand that “SOMETHING’S FISHY”.