TEHRAN, August 1- Amnesty International says one of its employees was targeted with Israeli-made surveillance software using Saudi protest bait, in what is believed to be part of a deliberate attempt to spy on the rights group.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - In a 20-page report released on Wednesday, Amnesty said one of its staff members in early June received a suspicious WhatsApp message in Arabic, containing details about an alleged protest outside the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., followed by a link to a website.
"Can you please cover [the protest] for your brothers detained in Saudi Arabia in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington,” read the message. “My brother was detained in Ramadan and I am on a scholarship here so please do not link me to this. [LINK]. Cover the protest now it will start in less than an hour. We need your support please."
Investigations by Amnesty’s technology team revealed that clicking the link would have installed “Pegasus,” a sophisticated surveillance tool developed by the Israel-based company NSO Group.
Pegasus infects the user's smartphone and steals all its information, including contacts, messages, and everything from Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat and Telegram.
“NSO Group is known to only sell its spyware to governments. We therefore believe that this was a deliberate attempt to infiltrate Amnesty International by a government hostile to our human rights work,” said Joshua Franco, Amnesty International’s Head of Technology and Human Rights.
Source: Press TV
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