Does government spy on us?

                                

By now, almost everyone has heard about the spyware 'Pegasus' which was used to hack data of 40 important figures including journalists, and human rights activists of India as per a report that was released on 18th July by various media outlets. Which brought serious concern about data security of Indians.

What exactly is  'Pegasus'?

Pegasus is basically a spyware program developed by  'NSO group technologies', which is an Israeli technology cybersecurity firm. Pegasus spyware has a program that allows the controller/hacker to access the infected smartphone's data, microphone, camera. The hacker also gains access to read messages and emails.

As per Kaspersky, it even allows the hacker to access encrypted audio streams and read encrypted messages, hence the hacker has complete access to the phone. This means that if the device is infected with pegasus then there's absolutely no way to stop the hackers from tapping the data 

This spyware infects the device via emails, phone calls, links, or missed calls and can infect Andriod and IOS. 

How does it work and how does it track the IoS phones which claim to be the most secure system in the world?

Pegasus uses Zero-day security loopholes to infect devices. Zero-day marks the day when an app/operating system launches its latest version.  In most cases, it is seen that the companies who launched the latest versions are unaware of the new bugs/loopholes present in them, on Zero-day. The pegasus program targets these bugs and security holes that are still unknown to the companies to hack the devices.

It was first detected in 2015, and this spyware has reportedly been used by 45 counties including INDIA, to infect the phones of activists, journalists, politicians.

Pegasus can monitor up to 500 phones in a year and can tack up to 50 devices at a go.

But if this spyware is that threatening then why was it created by a recognized cybersecurity firm and why has this firm is not been accused of spying by the Israeli government?

As per the NSO firm, the spyware program has been sold ONLY to vetted governments, with an intention to aid them in the fight against terrorism and crime.

The report citing sources of NSO, adds that it costs around 7-8 million dollars per year for the license of this software for the government.

How did the Indian government respond:

The government termed the reports of accusations of spying as a 'fishing expedition' and said that the reports have no concrete basis. ' The commitment to free speech as a fundamental right is the cornerstone of India's democratic system. We have always strived to attain an informed citizenry with an emphasis on a culture of open dialogue.' it said. sources

But even after this official statement of the government, the absence of rigid data security laws has made some citizens doubt data protection by the government.  

All these reports and the increasing usage of the internet have brought us to a very important discussion i.e. data security.

DATA PROTECTION ACT: In the year 2017, The Supreme Court recited privacy as a fundamental right. In the year 2018, A committee of 10 members made a draft bill on the issue of data security, but there was no progress on this bill, and is still pending.

This shows the current scenario of data protection laws of Indian citizens and the rising risk of data theft by Spywares.

CONCLUSION:

This investigation reveals the extent of data security risk with the digital world that has become an important part of human life. Hence, data protection of citizens in accordance with strict laws is the urgent need of the hour.

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