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Mahesh

01/11/23 06:42 AM IST

In Pegasus battle, the fight for surveillance reform

In News
  • A year has passed since the disclosures about the Pegasus Project revealed the threat to India’s democracy.
  • A leading digital news platform reported that the cellphones of at least 300 Indians had been hacked with Pegasus, the spyware from the Israel-based NSO Group
  • India has been aware of the existence of Pegasus since October 30, 2019 when WhatsApp confirmed that the spyware has been used to exploit a vulnerability in its platform to target activists, academics, journalists and lawyers in India.
Spyware
  • Spyware is loosely defined as malicious software designed to enter a device, gather sensitive data, and forward it to a third party without the user’s consent.
  • While spyware may be used for commercial purposes like advertising, malicious spyware is used to profit from data stolen from a victim’s device.
  • Spyware is broadly categorised as trojan spyware, adware, tracking cookie, and system monitors.
  • While each type of spyware gathers data for the author, system monitors and adware are more harmful as they may make modifications to a device’s software and expose the device to further threats.
Pegasus Spyware
  • In India, the Pegasus spyware was part of a $2-billion “package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear” transaction between India and Israel after Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel.
  • The spyware in India was used against at least 40 journalists, Cabinet Ministers, and holders of constitutional positions, according to reports in The Washington Post.
  • The spyware was delivered to the victim’s phones by exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities, which means even the device manufacturer was unaware of these exploits.
  • And while in all these cases, malicious links were sent to the victim’s device, reports indicate that the spyware is capable of zero-click attacks.
  • This means that they can infect a device without requiring users to click on a malicious attachment or link.
Overhaul the laws
  • An overhaul of surveillance laws is necessary to prevent the indiscriminate monitoring of people and entities by the state and private actors.
  • The Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 which empower the Government to surveil, concentrate surveillance powers in the hands of the executive, and do not contain any independent oversight provisions, judicial or parliamentary.
  • These legislations are from an era before spyware such as Pegasus were developed, and, thus, do not respond to the modern-day surveillance industry.
  • Unfortunately, legislative proposals by the Union Government for surveillance reform do not exist.
  • The proposed data protection law does not address these concerns despite proposals from members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
  • Instead, the proposed law provides wide exemptions to the Government relating to select agencies from the application of the law; one which might be used to exempt intelligence and other law enforcement agencies.
  • This gap in the surveillance framework has led to severe harm being caused to India’s democratic ideals.
Measures by tech companies
  • Tech giants including Meta, Google, and Apple have taken concrete steps to address the problem of commercial spyware firms exploiting bugs in their software.
  • In the case of Mr. Eltantawy, Apple and Google updated their software to fix the bugs exploited by Cytrox’s Predator spyware.
  • Apple with its iOS 16 also released a ‘Lockdown Mode’, which the company called an “extreme protection” designed for high-risk individuals.
  • While the Lockdown Mode in Apple’s software limits the device’s functionality, it has proven to be a viable option to protect against spyware attacks.
  • Meta-owned WhatsApp has gone as far as pursuing a lawsuit accusing Israel’s NSO Group of exploiting a bug in its software.
Source- The Hindu

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