Conservative National Action Party Officials Targeted By Government Spyware Mark Stevenson and Frank Bajak - The Associated Press
go to original June 29, 2017

Mexico Uses Israeli Spyware to Target Lawyers, Journalists and Activists (TheRealNews)

Mexico's scandal of high-tech spying against journalists and human rights defenders widened Thursday with expert confirmation that leading members of a main opposition party were also targeted by Israeli-made spyware sold exclusively to governments.

The conservative National Action Party, or PAN, had asked internet watchdog Citizen Lab to investigate suspicious messages after the University of Toronto-based cyber-sleuths exposed the scandal last week.

On Thursday, Citizen Lab released a research note saying it had determined that the mobile phones of the party president, its chief spokesman, and the party's leader in the Senate were all sent text messages containing links to the same malware.

The spyware, known as Pegasus, is made by NSO Group, which says it only sells to government agencies for use against criminals and terrorists. It turns a cellphone into an eavesdropper with the ability to remotely activate its microphone and camera and access its data.

"This case makes it crystal clear that NSO has been used widely and recklessly across a swath of Mexican civil society and politics," said Citizen Lab's John Scott-Railton. "Once again we see "government-exclusive" spyware being used for seemingly political ends."

The PAN is the party of former Mexican presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon. The report says its Senate leader, Roberto Gil Zuarth, received three messages in June 2016 with links designed to surreptitiously plant Pegasus on his cellphone.

"As cases continue to emerge, it is clear that this is not an isolated case of misuse, but a sustained operation that lasted for more than a year and a half," Scott-Railton said.

Read the rest at Newser

Related: Mexico's Federal Attorney General Bought Pegasus for US $32 Million (Mexico News Daily)

Related: Who Is Spying on Mexico's Opposition Leaders, Journalists and Activists? (The Los Angeles Times)

Related: Mexico Government Espionage: Acting As If Nothing Happened (Mexico Voices)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!