A report has surfaced which shows that India has been using Israeli company Pegasus spyware in an attempt to hack the smartphones of journalists, government officials and human rights activists around the world, particularly Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan was also made a potential target of this spyware program by the users of NSO Group. At least one number once used by PM Khan was on the Indian list.
Last year, the Brussels based EU Disinfo Lab found that India is using malicious propaganda to malign Pakistan and sabotage its stability. Under the investigation, Indian Chronicles, it was noted that India desires to discredit regional nations and create anti-Pakistan (anti-Chinese) feelings in India to gain international favors and muster the support of international institutions such as European Union and United Nations. The report also uncovered the Indian network operating since 2005 that uses nefarious designs to jeopardize peace in Pakistan. It has been discovered that over 500 fake local media outlets operate to produce negative content about Pakistan and China.
After having disclosed the evil ambitions, the Foreign Minister spokesperson Zahid Hafeez said, “The world has seen the true face of so-called Indian democracy when the reports of EU Disinfo lab, Indian Chronicles, surfaced earlier last year.”
“We are closely following these revelations and will bring the Indian abusers to the attention of appropriate global platforms”, he said.
Originally, the purpose of software, as told by NSO Group, is to investigate crimes and terrorists acts for the security of the region. But other nations including India are employing malicious means to launch disinformation campaign against the nations.
Pakistan is placed among those countries that are targeted the most by India and Israel is providing it the means to do that. By using the spyware, India extracts the official and personal information of media personnel and government employees of Pakistan that is tantamount to damaging the sovereignty of the state.
The investigation carried out by 17 media organisations to reveal the clandestine activities of NSO cyberespionage group also demonstrated that at least two dozen Pakistan senior defense and intelligence officials were supposedly targeted with this technology owned by Israeli spyware company.
The Indian News Agency ANI has created several news reports by using the fake EU media outlet as a base. This effort has been purposefully made by Indian media to peddle hate against Pakistan in their own country. Other Indian media outlets usually reproduce the same content as used by ANI in order to establish a strong support and attract audience against the neighborhood country.
Online spaces have already been regularly monitored in Pakistan with digital rights sometimes undermined. Officials say the continued Indian surveillance of Pakistan’s information, and its malicious propaganda, has incited the government agencies and online content regulatory bodies to enhance their control over online spaces through adopting rigorous measures.
“Pegasus is probably one of the most capable remote access tools there is. Think of it as if you've put your phone in someone else's hands,” said Cybersecurity professor at the University of Surrey Alan Woodward.
Government officials maintain that owing to India’s malignant use of spyware for the purpose of creating false perception of Pakistan regionally and internationally, the government of Pakistan has been on toes to restrict the online use of Pakistani content and bring it under high surveillance. The limited use of media and the compromised digital rights can be the expected outcome according to the security analysts.
The government has already launched a National Cybersecurity Policy, 2021 in a bid to protect the online infrastructures against cyber-attacks. The policy aims to identify the incidents and monitor the malicious use of techniques and data that pose a grace threat to the security of Pakistan.
For the protection of online privacy, and develop a robust framework to tackle the situation, the government has decided to provide the relevant organisations with cyber security experts and required systems and mechanisms.
According to the EU Disinfo Lab, over 750 Indian based websites spread across 119 countries have been operating to undermine Pakistan since last 15 years within European Union and United Nations. Some analysts have also observed that a large number of authorities are assigned the task in India to establish false image of Pakistan on internet.
Experts say that in view of such uncontrolled and unchecked behavior of Indian media, whatever remedial steps Pakistan would take will certainly bring unanticipated results for its people in the form of media blockades and restricted usage of digital spaces.