Pegasus row: Amazon shuts down NSO Group’s cloud infrastructure

Close on the heels of the spying controversy surrounding Pegasus spyware, Amazon’s cloud service, Amazon Web Services, has shut down infrastructure and accounts linked to its parent company NSO Group, news agency Reuters reported. The move comes after a global collaborative investigative project of 17 media organisations revealed that Pegasus spyware targeted people in several countries, including over 300 mobile phone numbers in India. Pegasus infects iPhones and Android devices, allowing operators to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones and cameras.

“When we learned of this activity, we acted quickly to shut down the relevant infrastructure and accounts,” an AWS spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. The Israel-based surveillance firm, however, denied any wrongdoing and said the product was intended only for use by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime.

The allegations about use of the software, known as Pegasus, were carried on Sunday by the Washington Post, the Guardian, Le Monde and 14 other media organisations around the world.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s inner circle, Mexican politicians, dissidents and journalists were potential targets for surveillance by a government client of the Israeli spyware company NSO Group, The Guardian reported on Monday. The technology was also used to hack election strategist Prashant Kishor, The Wire has reported.

The report came just a day before the start of the Monsoon Session of Parliament and could see the matter being raised in two houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, beginning tomorrow. Some opposition leaders are also expected to give notices for adjournment or debate on this issue.

The Wire said the numbers of those in the database from India include over 40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving ministers in the Narendra Modi government, current and former heads and officials of security organisations and scores of businesspersons, as also a sitting judge.

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Responding to the reports, the government referred to its reply given to the media consortium and said similar claims were made in the past as well regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp by India and those reports also had no factual basis and were categorically denied by all parties, including WhatsApp in the Indian Supreme Court.

“This news report, thus, also appears to be a similar fishing expedition, based on conjectures and exaggerations to malign the Indian democracy and its institutions,” the government said.