- By Munibar Barui
Recently, an international collaborating reporting project including The Wire and 16 media partners have exposed the use of spear-phishing methods using text links or messages to “zero-click” attacks organised by high-officials of the Union Government.
The use of such spyware is not run-of-the-mill case, but a highly contagious malware. In early 2021, cybersecurity firm ZecOps claimed iPhones and iPads have had a conventional susceptibility to unaided attacks, especially with its mail app.On Android phones running version 4.4.4 and earlier versions, the vulnerability was through the gallery app. The cyber-attackers have also exploited vulnerabilities in WhatsApp, where a phone could be infestedwith malware even if an incoming malicious call was not picked up, and in Wi-Fi, chipsets users to stream games and movies. In this context, the Amnesty International claims that even recent security patchesof both iOS and Android devices with the latest operating systems have been breached.
In current context, TheWire, on July 18, 2021 reported that the leaked global database contained around 50,000 telephone numbers of individuals across the world (majority was clustered in 10 countries, including India).However, in Indian context, the project Pegasus had earlier revealed that Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware targetedover 300 mobile phone numbers in India including that of two serving Ministers in the Narendra Modi government, three Opposition leaders, one constitutional authority, several journalists and business persons. The list contained names of individuals such as senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, election strategist Prashant Kishor, former Election Commissioner Askhok Lavasa, ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Patel, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, the entire family of a Supreme Court staffer who had accused the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment in 2019, and many more individuals who were reporters (40 journalists), businessman, government officials, etc. In similar veins, earlier in 2019, WhatsApp had reported that surveillance was carried out between April, 2019 to May, 2019 on users in 20 countries across four continents (as per lawsuit filed in US court in San Francisco).
As the Monsoon Session of the Indian Parliament begins. The members of the opposition demanded the sacking of Home Minister Amit Shah and a probe into the “role of Prime Minister” Narendra Modi in this entire matter.Rahul Gandhi observed that such form of surveillance is illegal and is a direct attack on an individual’s privacy as enshrined in our Constitution. It is an attack on the democratic foundations of our country. It must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible be identified and punished.
In this vein, to counter such opinion, on July 19, 2021 Ashwini Vaishnaw (the current minister for electronics and information technology) opined that the Pegasus Project was an attempt “to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”. Furthermore, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad observed that there is no iota of evidence against the ruling party for doing any such misdeeds. This was in consonance what our Home Minister Amit Shah stated “people (oppositions and dissidents) have often connected this phrase with me in lighter vein but today I want to seriously say—the timing of the selective leaks, the disruptions…Aaap Chronology Samajhiye!!!! This is a report by the disrupters for the obstructers”.
Nonetheless, the home minister and Prime Minister of India were held responsible by opposition members in the Parliament on such issues. This is directly against all the provisions of Indian Telegraph Act as there is no lawful interception, rather an arbitrary move to spy on dissident/anti-establishment related individuals. There is an urgent need to probe such issues as because the Government itself is shying away from revealing its true colour. Thus, in conclusion nothing will happen as because agencies such as Lokpal or Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) should might never take up such situations—in the view of the fact thatthey are also tooth-less tigers. The author works as a reporter under the banner of Sattachintan. He is a writer, an avid aquarist, a tech-savvy individual with a will to do something in life.