PTA says WhatsApp was involved in Pegasus Spyware
July 29, 2021The Pakistan Telecommunications
Authority (PTA) has claimed that WhatsApp was used by the Israeli surveillance
company NSO Group to play a key role in using its hacking spyware.
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| The investigation report issued by 17 media houses said that the mobile number used by Imran Khan at least once was in the list of India. |
It may be recalled that a few
days ago, the Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde and other news agencies
participated in the investigation into Israeli spy software.
The Pakistan Telecommunications
Authority (PTA) has claimed that WhatsApp was used by the Israeli surveillance
company NSO Group to play a key role in using its hacking spyware.
The revelation came during a
meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defense, in which
senior officials were briefed on the recent investigations by 17 media
organizations, which claimed that India was one of several countries that had
committed human rights abuses. Rights activists use Pegasus to hack
Smartphones.
The Additional Secretary of Home
Affairs said that Pakistani cybercrime laws have not been recognized anywhere in
the world which impedes speedy investigation and legal action against such
incidents.
The Director-General of Cyber
Crimes FIA noted that the exchange of information on cybercrime from country to
country has recently started and now different countries are sharing reports of
various cybercrimes including dark web and pornography-related crimes.
He added that social media
companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter provide access to their
complaint portals where the PTA registers complaints regarding various
cybercrimes. However, their response rate is only 34%, which includes most
reactions to child pornography.
It may be recalled that according
to the reports of foreign news agencies, the investigation report issued by 17
media houses said that the mobile number used by Imran Khan at least once was
in the list of India.