Kazak Journalists Mull Pegasus Attack
Kazak Journalists Mull Pegasus Attack Despite numbers apparently targeted, no official investigation is forthcoming. When Kazak journalist Serikzhan Mauletbay discovered he was on the list of those targeted by Pegasus spyware, he was astonished. “I thought I might be bugged, but I could not even imagine being on the Pegasus list,” said Mauletbay, whose work has including covering protests and reporting on the most recent parliamentary elections. “I do not know how long they spied on me, why they did it, what were the results, or what they found,” he continued. “I only noticed that my phone lost its charge very quickly, but I could not tell for sure that there was surveillance.” Research recently released by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) showed that countries around the world were using Pegasus, a spyware product made by the Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group. Serikzhan Mauletbay. Personal photo The company has insisted that their software was created to track terrorists and criminals, but in reality it has been used to spy on officials, journalists, activists and oligarchs. Those targeted received an SMS message with a link, which when followed allowed the device to be monitored. More recently, Pegasus has been updated to allow phones to be tracked simply by their number. A number of people in Kazakstan were among those targeted, according to the investigation, including President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Prime Minister Askar Mamin and Almaty religious leader Bakhytzhan Sagintayev. Another research article by OCCRP journalists concluded that the devices of a number of Kazak Journalists Mull Pegasus Attack Kazak public figures and entrepreneurs were also targeted, including former energy minister and opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov, now accused of embezzling bank funds, billionaire businessman Bulat Utemuratov and philanthropist Kenes Rakishev.
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