Activists Sue Government of Thailand for using Pegasus : Suman Tiwari

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   Suman Tiwari, Birgun. As per joint investigation by Human rights and cyber investigation group, it’s been confirmed that at least mobile phone of 30 political activists in Thailand have been hacked and infiltrated by Pegasus spyware software. Pegasus is developed by Israel based NSO group.
   The office of the Prime minister, The Ministry of Digital economy and Society, The Royal Thai Police and 3 different department of Thai armed forces are among nine state agencies on which lawsuit are filled jointly by advocate Yingcheep Atchanont and human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa for intruding into their privacy by using malicious spyware software Pegasus.
   Pegasus is considered very dangerous spyware because it can infiltrate into smart phones by carrying out a “Zero-click exploits.” This means unlike other spyware, Pegasus doesn’t need any human interaction to penetrate into mobile phones. Once this spyware is installed, it will sniff, record and monitor every activity of mobile.
   As per an American not-for-profit news agency Associated Press report the two activist have requested the court to ban the use of Pegasus in Thailand and for the court to order the government to release the data spyware has collected so far. The activists have also demanded 2.5 million baht ($72,000) each as a compensation amount.
   In year 2021, at least 17 activists in Thailand using Apple devices were warned by Apple that they had been targeted by ‘state-sponsored’ attackers. Apart from Arnon and Yingcheep Atchanont, several other name of victims were announced in different forums and reports. Few of the confirmed names of the victims where NSO deployed Pegasus to their mobile phones include Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, who have called for reform of the monarchy, Prajak Kongkirati, an academic at Thammasat University, Puangthong Pawakapan, an academic at Chulalongkorn University, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, a prominent opposition politician.
   During 2022 parliamentary censure debates, Digital Economy Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn acknowledged that Pegasus had been used by state agencies for activities related to “security or narcotics.”
   Initially NSO Group claimed that Pegasus will be used to track down money laundering, terrorism and several other criminal activities but over series of investigation and reports published by different , agencies it has been confirmed that majority of its target audience are innocent journalist, head of state and social activists.
   In past, many activist and organisation have sued NSO Group as they own the software. iPhone manufacturer Apple Inc. too has sued Israeli firm NSO Group, the maker of Pegasus. America has not only blacklisted the use of Pegasus spyware in its territory but have also banned the NSO Group from working or incorporating with any US tech company.

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Suman is Cyber Security Expert from Birgunj, Nepal