Journalism of Courage
UN human rights experts have confirmed that Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos' iPhone was compromised via a WhatsApp video file. The video was sent to him by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. It is being said that the device was compromised using the NSO Group's Pegasus-3 software. According to the UN human rights experts, the incident is being seen as a serious “contravention of fundamental international human rights standards,” and there are calls for a full-fledged investigation. It is being said that the surveillance was a part of an effort to silence The Washington Post‘s reporting on Saudi Arabia. Bezos also owns The Washington Post. (Image: AP)
According to the UN report, when Bezos received the video, his iPhone started behaving abnormally. It saw a 29,156 per cent jump in data transfer from the device. Over the months his phone was hacked, it saw 1around 4.6GB higher than the pre-video data egress baseline. The spyware stole gigabytes worth of information from Bezos’ phone, which included his private messages and photos to his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. (Image: Reuters)
The malicious message was sent to Bezos on May 1, 2018. And on November 8, 2018, the Crown Prince taunted Bezos as he texted him on a photo with an offensive caption on WhatsApp. The image resembled Lauren Sanchez, Bezos’ current girlfriend, though the affair was not yet public. The caption read, "Arguing with a woman is like reading the Software License Agreement. In the end, you have to ignore everything and click I agree." (Image: Reuters)
The NSO Group has denied using Pegasus to hack into Bezos' iPhone. The company on a post on its website stated, "shocked and appalled by the story that has been published with respect to alleged hacking of the phone of Mr. Jeff Bezos." "if this story is true, then it deserves a full investigation by all bodies providing such services to assure that their systems have not been used in this abuse," it added. The group has stated that it is willing to cooperate with the UN, Bezos and any other body to "fully understand these issues and to set guidelines and capabilities to assure the protection of human rights in the sale and use of surveillance equipment." (Image: AP)
