The Pegasus spyware, created and sold by the Israeli company NSO, has been used for several years to systematically monitor journalists and civil society activists via their smartphones, without them being aware of it. No less than a dozen governments in the world have purchased this software to monitor more than 50,000 colleagues (at least).
This system is incredible: there is no link to click and the attack remains totally invisible. Once installed, Pegasus provides full access to the phone, including encrypted messaging and it even enables users to remotely activate the microphone and the camera of the device.
The consequences are disastrous for journalism: freedom of the press is trampled on; the protection of sources is flouted and journalists find themselves in real danger and at the mercy of the least scrupulous governments.
This year, we will continue, through our global expert group on surveillance, our close collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations to ban the marketing of this type of software, to prevent these scandalous practices and to support investigative journalism.
Cybersurveillance will be on the agenda of our upcoming congress in Oman where we hope to see many of you.
On behalf of the all IFJ secretariat, I wish you all a happy new year.
Anthony Bellanger
IFJ General Secretary