Pegasus: How do you know if you’ve been infected and how can you protect yourself?
Among those potentially infected: politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, powerful business leaders and lawyers. In France, President Emmanuel Macron could thus have been. So yes, you are not Emmanuel Macron. But that doesn’t give you an immunity totem. Is it possible to protect yourself from Pegasus? And if yes, how ? We tell you everything.
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Almost undetectable software
When, thanks to Pegasus, someone has access to your phone, they have access to all of your data. Whether it’s photos, contacts, location, conversations, notes or all the apps on your phone, nothing is spared. Pegasus can even allow someone’s camera to be activated remotely. Where Pegasus is very strong but also very scary is that it is almost impossible to detect him. One of the characteristics of software is that it self-destructs when it is identified. Only extremely careful data analysis procedures can reveal the presence of Pegasus.
Also read: Pegasus malware: a simple WhatsApp call can infect you!
You can imagine that if in the highest circles of the State it is difficult to know for sure whether or not there has been an infection, this is even more true for the general public. Today, for the populations, there is moreover only one true means, not 100% reliable. Amnesty International has put online a set of tools (MVT) to detect the presence or not of the Pegasus software in our phone. The NGO accompanied these tools with instructions intended to help use the tools. Only downside, and despite the many help pages provided, very advanced computer knowledge is necessary to use these tools. If your computer skills boil down to Word, Power Point and Photoshop, the tools from Amnesty International won’t be of much use to you. Instead, turn to an expert.
MVT tools link: GitHub – mvt-project / mvt: MVT is a forensic tool to look for signs of infection in smartphone devices
On the Internet, different “Pegasus test” are flourishing. A thinking time of no more than five seconds should tickle your ears. Given the complexity and level of discretion of Pegasus, there are no tests that can tell you if you are one of those affected.
Few real solutions to protect yourself
Following the scandal, Apple’s brand image could have faltered. But the apple-bite giant reacted quickly by releasing a secure patch for iOS, iPadOS and macOS. If your phone has potentially been targeted or even infected, you are advised to update your software. If Apple is telling the truth, the breach exploited has been closed.
At our level, any action other than that mentioned above is unfortunately unnecessary. The best thing to do, if you want to protect yourself, is to limit the use of your phone, keeping it switched off as often as possible. Restricting its use means providing it with less information and therefore exposing itself a little less, but also reducing the chances of being infected. Why not take advantage of the summer to revive the fashion for postcards or cameras?
Pegasus is an affair of terrifying magnitude. However, some things deserve to be recontextualized. In total, 50,000 telephone numbers were spied on, including a thousand in France. You have a one in 68,000 chance of being targeted. In addition, when we know that almost all of the people targeted are personalities, often public, holding precious information, there is enough to blow a blow. Only powerful people are of interest to Pegasus customers. You can surf YouTube with confidence, other than analyzing your habits and chomping on some junk, your life is probably not interesting enough to be spied on.
