Pegasus, a highly advanced spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group, has emerged as one of the most potent tools in modern surveillance. Capable of infiltrating smartphones without any user interaction—often through “zero-click” exploits—Pegasus grants operators near-total control over a targeted device. It can read messages and emails, track locations, record calls, activate cameras and microphones, and extract photos, passwords, and application data. While NSO Group maintains that Pegasus is sold only to vetted governments for fighting terrorism and serious crime, repeated investigations have exposed its widespread misuse against journalists, activists, opposition politicians, and human rights defenders.
A Direct Assault on Democratic Foundations
The core danger of Pegasus lies in its ability to enable covert, mass-scale surveillance with little to no oversight. By targeting individuals who hold power to account, it undermines several pillars of democracy:
- Freedom of the Press: Journalists infected with Pegasus face constant monitoring, creating a chilling effect that discourages investigative reporting on government corruption or abuse of power.
- Political Pluralism: Opposition figures and critics are silenced through intimidation, blackmail, or fabricated evidence derived from intercepted communications.
- Civil Society: Human rights activists, lawyers, and NGOs operate under the shadow of surveillance, limiting their ability to advocate for change.
- Privacy and Rule of Law: Zero-click infections bypass judicial warrants and technical safeguards, allowing extrajudicial monitoring on an industrial scale.
International human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Citizen Lab, along with United Nations special rapporteurs, have warned that tools like Pegasus represent a profound threat to privacy, free expression, and democratic governance worldwide.
The Pegasus Project and Confirmed Abuses
In 2021, the Pegasus Project—a collaborative investigation led by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, involving more than a dozen media outlets—uncovered a leaked list of approximately 50,000 phone numbers selected for potential surveillance. Forensic analysis confirmed active Pegasus infections in numerous cases, revealing a pattern of abuse that spanned continents.
High-profile victims include:
- Associates of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, including his fiancée Hatice Cengiz.
- Over 180 journalists from outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, and Al Jazeera.
- Pro-democracy activists in Thailand and Bahrain.
- Moroccan journalist Omar Radi and dozens of Jordanian human rights defenders.
- Political figures such as French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish opposition leaders, and Catalan independence supporters in Spain.
- Even U.S. State Department officials and heads of state in multiple countries.
Clients linked to these infections range from authoritarian regimes in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Rwanda to democracies including Hungary, Poland, India, and Mexico.
Persistent Threat Despite Pushback
As of late 2025, Pegasus remains in active use despite international efforts to curb its proliferation. NSO Group has faced significant setbacks: the United States blacklisted the company in 2021, U.S. courts held it liable for hacking thousands of WhatsApp users, and Meta secured damages in 2025. Apple sued NSO (later dropping the case), and European Union bodies launched investigations.
Yet the spyware continues to evolve. Recent 2025 infections targeted journalists in Serbia covering anti-government protests. Former NSO CEO Shalev Hulio has launched a new venture, Dream Security, while competing tools such as Predator and Graphite fill similar niches in the commercial spyware market.
Detection has improved—tools like Kaspersky’s shutdown.log analyzer can identify traces of infection—but the underlying vulnerabilities exploited by Pegasus are patched only after discovery, leaving a window for exploitation.
A Call for Global Regulation
Pegasus exemplifies the dangers of an unregulated private spyware industry that arms governments—democratic and authoritarian alike—with capabilities once reserved for the most advanced state intelligence agencies. Human rights advocates and technology experts have repeatedly called for a global moratorium on the sale and transfer of surveillance tools until robust human rights safeguards are in place.
Without meaningful regulation, spyware like Pegasus will continue to erode civic space, intimidate dissent, and weaken the foundations of open societies. The fight to protect democracy in the digital age increasingly hinges on controlling the very tools designed to operate in the shadows.
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