In the shocking revelations made under the Pegasus Project, an initiative of investigative journalism by 17 media houses from around the world which reveals illegal spying of journalists, activists and opposition members of the countries by the governments, it has been revealed that the Kashmir based Delhi University professor, S.A.R Geelani’s number was selected as a target for hacking by an unidentified India-based agency.
The Wire reported that it had conducted a forensic analysis of Geelani’s phone in collaboration with Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Geelani’s iphone has still been preserved by the family, and the results of the forensic tests confirm that the phone was spied upon on and off for over two years.
The report said that sometime in mid-2017, Geelani had received some text messages on his telephone number. One of the SMS read “United Nations launches online portal for the independence of Kashmir.”
While another message arrived a few days later and said: “Another incident showing Indian army beating librandu Kashmiri youth mercilessly to chant Pakistan Murdabad.”
The report claims that there were several other messages – “all unique, tailor-made messages, specifically designed to capture Geelani’s attention – sent from what looked like an international number.”
His phone was revealed to be infected with Pegasus spyware – an Israel based firm’s product, “which allows operators of the tool to gain unauthorised access to a user’s mobile device and functions,” reported The Wire.
Although it remains unclear whether the SMS-based attacks worked, the report says, “specific forensic analysis conducted by Amnesty International’s Security Lab show that the phone was compromised by Pegasus on and off between February 2018 and January 2019, and then again from September 2019 to October 2019. At least one of these attacks, Amnesty notes, was carried out through a zero-click iMessage exploit.”