At least two cyber-security researchers testified before a Supreme Court-appointed committee investigating the use of Pegasus for allegedly spying on civilians, telling the panel that they had tangible evidence of Pegasus use on the petitioners' machines.
Some of the petitioners hired these cyber-security experts to testify before the Supreme Court panel and present specifics of their forensic investigation.
According to The Indian Express, one of the two researchers examined the iPhones of seven persons, two of whom were confirmed to be infected with Pegasus. The researcher filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court and then testified in front of the panel, claiming that the evidence on the two phones was discovered utilizing a forensic tool.
A defense pact was signed during Prime Minister Modi's visit to Israel in 2017.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to Israel in 2017. He was the first Prime Minister of India to visit Israel. During this period, a message was sent around the world indicating that India's posture on Israel was changing. During this time, the two countries signed a $ 2 billion defense accord. One of them is Pegasus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to India a few months after PM Modi's visit. In 2019, India voted in favor of Israel in the United Nations Economic and Social Council. This was the first occasion that India favored Israel over Palestine.
In July 2021, a global coalition of media organizations revealed that governments all over the world have used spyware to spy on political opponents and journalists. In India, almost 40 journalists were spied on, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, political strategist Prashant Kishor, and then-election commissioner Ashok Lavasa.
What exactly is Pegasus?
Pegasus is a spyware program. Spyware is a name for software that is used to spy on or monitor people. This approach can be used to hack any phone. The hacker now gets access to all of the phone's information, including the camera, microphone, messages, and calls, as a result of the attack. This spyware was developed by the Israeli company NSO Group.