2023-05-25 14:01:00
At least a dozen Armenian journalists, NGO workers and officials had their phones hacked with Pegasus spyware during the conflict with Azerbaijan, according to a report by the Access Now organization released on Thursday.
This computer program designed by the Israeli company NSO Group can take control of a smartphone and allow remote access to data, microphone and camera.
According to the NGO Access Now, which defends the rights of Internet users, this is the first documented use of Pegasus in an international military conflict.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, former Soviet republics, have battled for control of the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region in two wars, one in the 1990s and the other in 2020.
Despite a Moscow-sponsored ceasefire, clashes regularly erupt on the border between the two countries.
Access Now’s investigation conducted jointly with other NGOs and research groups was able to confirm that 12 people were targeted with Pegasus between October 2020 and December 2022.
Among them, the Armenian human rights official Kristinne Grigoryan, several journalists from Radio Free Europe and a representative of the United Nations.
Anna Naghdalyan, spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry during the conflict, is also among the victims. She had been warned in 2021 by Apple that her phone was likely to be attacked.
Access Now said it might not know for sure who carried out the spying, as both Armenia and Azerbaijan have deployed surveillance systems in the past.
For the organization, a moratorium is necessary on the sale of such software as long as they are not in conformity with international law.
“Providing the Pegasus spyware to the authorities of either country in the context of violent conflict carries a substantial risk of contributing to and facilitating serious human rights abuses and even war crimes” , she wrote in her report.
NSO is the subject of numerous lawsuits, from Apple and other companies. In July 2021, an investigation had revealed a list of more than 50,000 names likely to have been monitored via Pegasus, including heads of state.
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