Pegasus spyware could target WhatsApp, iPhones, Android smartphones; here’s how users can stay safe

Unlike many other forms of phone hacking, Pegasus could be delivered to a user by a maliciously crafted message or attachment that could infect a user’s device, simply by ‘processing’ the received attachment. In some cases, users were infected simply by calling the user – the spyware was able to delete the call log to cover its tracks. — Photo by Rob Hampson on Unsplash

Pegasus, the spyware that is used to target and snoop on users via their smartphones came into the news in 2019 when WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned cryptomessenger sued the Israeli company behind the software, called NSO Group after it was discovered that more than a thousand users were allegedy being targeted around the world, according to reports.

To understand what Pegasus is and how it worked in the past, it is necessary to understand how the software was used to target individuals and how the affected companies changed their services to fix the security flaws being used by Pegasus back in 2019.