Google, Cisco and VMware join Microsoft in coalition against company behind spyware Pegasus

[Jack prabha]

After reporting a hacker invasion on at least 1,400 devices, many of which belonged to journalists and human rights activists, companies like Google, Cisco and VMware joined Microsoft in legal support powered by WhatsApp against intelligence firm NSO Group , according to TechCrunch . The Israeli group develops and sells government access to its Pegasus spyware , allowing its customers to hack into its target devices.

Read also: Journalists' iPhones hacked with spyware from Israeli company, says Citizen Lab

The alliance accuses the NSO of using an undisclosed vulnerability in WhatsApp to hack at least 1,400 devices. The group has on its list of clients authoritarian governments like Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.

Spywares like Pegasus can track a victim's location, read his messages and listen to his calls, steal his photos and files and divert private information from his device. Spyware is often installed by tricking a target into opening a malicious link or, at times, exploiting vulnerabilities never seen before in applications or phones to silently infect victims with spyware.

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Last year, WhatsApp sued NSO after finding and fixing a vulnerability that it said was being used to deliver government-grade spyware, in some cases without the victim knowing it, the website says.

Microsoft (including its subsidiaries LinkedIn and GitHub), Google, Cisco, VMware and the Internet Association, which represents dozens of tech giants, including Amazon, Facebook and Twitter, warned of the seriousness and danger of privacy invasions in the development of spyware and spy tools like Pegasus.

The Information security engineer should work in collaboration with the information security team to offer support to security tools and technologies such as firewall, proxy server, remote access, and others.