Prevent Pegasus Spyware Attacks with VMDR | Qualys
Summary: Pegasus is surveillance software built by Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO Group, first detected in 2016 using spear-phishing and now infecting devices through zero-click attacks that exploit OS, iMessage, and WhatsApp vulnerabilities, including iMessage flaws used in December 2020 and WhatsApp flaws in 2019. A leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets was obtained by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, and the spyware's anti-forensic and self-destruct features mean it leaves no trace if uninstalled.
What you should know: Pegasus can only be installed if the underlying vulnerabilities are present, so a phone left unpatched is the entry point - and once installed, it reads messages, copies media, records calls, and erases its own tracks, leaving nothing for a forensic team to find.
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- Topics
- Vulnerabilities & Patching
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