Digital surveillance technology has for a long period been used against journalists, political opponents and vocal government critics. However, as the famous adage goes, “What goes around, comes around”.

Last week, an investigation by a Paris-based non-profit media consortium Forbidden Stories with technical support from Amnesty International unearthed shocking discoveries into how Pegasus, Israeli spyware has been used to collect 50,000 phone numbers of potential victims, including African politicians.

On the list first published by The Washington Post, three presidents, 10 prime ministers and a king were on target. A deeper analysis of the findings revealed that the surveillance targets were either incumbent or former leaders of their countries.

To be more specific, three sitting presidents, Emmanuel Macron of France, Iraq’s Barham Salih, and Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. On the list are also three incumbent prime ministers, including Pakistan’s Imran Khan, Egypt’s Mostafa Madbouly, and Saad-Eddine El Othmani of Morocco.

Seven former prime ministers who, according to time stamps on the surveillance list, were placed during their terms of office. They include Uganda’s Ruhakana Rugunda, Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr of Yemen, Lebanon’s Saad Hariri, France’s Édouard Philippe, Bakitzhan Sagintayev of Kazakhstan, Algeria’s Noureddine Bedoui, and Charles Michel of Belgium.

Mohammed VI of Morocco is the only king who made the list.

Partner media organizations in 10 countries, according to The Washington Post, confirmed the ownership of the phone numbers obtained by NSO Group that sells the Pegasus spyware through public records, journalists’ contact books and queries to government officials or close associates of potential targets.

The damning investigations by Amnesty and Forbidden Stories have caused a stir around the world with Macron, named among potential targets; considering changing his phone after calling for an urgent national security meeting when the first segment of the report was released.

Morocco, whose prime minister and the king were also named among the potential targets of Pegasus surveillance technology, threatened to sue Amnesty International and partners on claims of defamation.

Morocco says Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories claimed, without evidence, that its intelligence services used the Pegasus mobile phone spyware against dozens of French journalists and government lawyers.

“The Moroccan state … wants all possible light cast on these false allegations from these two organisations, who make claims without any concrete or demonstrative evidence whatsoever,” the lawyer, Olivier Baratelli, said in a statement.

Journalists and activists not safe

The only disparity between Pegasus spyware and other surveillance tools is the aspect of targeting government officials. This means journalists and activists remained among the major targets of this surveillance tool.

Slain Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi was the victim of Pegasus spyware and his family members remained subjected to this advanced surveillance system.

Amnesty says in Mexico, journalist Cecilio Pineda’s phone was selected for targeting just weeks before his killing in 2017. The Pegasus Project identified at least 25 Mexican journalists selected for targeting over two years. NSO denied that even if Pineda’s phone had been targeted, data collected from his phone contributed to his death.

In Azerbaijan, a country where only a few independent media outlets remain, Pegasus has been used. More than 40 Azerbaijani journalists were selected as potential targets according to the investigation. Amnesty International’s Security Lab found the phone of Sevinc Vaqifqizi, a freelance journalist for independent media outlet Meydan TV was infected for over two years until May 2021.

In India, 40 journalists from nearly every major media outlet in the country were selected as potential targets between 2017-2021. Forensic tests revealed the phones of Siddharth Varadarajan and MK Venu, co-founders of independent online outlet The Wire, were infected with Pegasus spyware as recently as June 2021.

The investigation also identified journalists working for major international media including the Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times and Reuters as potential targets. One of the highest-profile journalists was Roula Khalaf, the editor of the Financial Times.

How Pegasus works

Pegasus exploits undiscovered vulnerabilities, or bugs, in Android and iOS. This means a phone could be infected even if it has the latest security patch installed.

A previous version of the spyware — from 2016 — infected smartphones using a technique called “spear-fishing”: text messages or emails containing a malicious link were sent to the target. It depended on the target clicking the link—this requirement has been replaced by the so-called zero-click feature.