Russia appears to be targeting journalists with spyware known as Pegasus. Pegasus is a "zero-click" software, hacking phones by sending texts that

  • Russia appears to be targeting journalists with spyware known as Pegasus.

  • Pegasus is a “zero-click” software, hacking phones by sending texts that don’t need to be opened.

  • The software has targeted dozens of journalists, activists, and politicians in recent years.

  • WaLLy3KEnglish
    2•9 months ago

    Lockdown mode was released as a countermeasure specifically against Pegasus the first time it made the rounds as it disables many ways that are commonly exploited as the initial vector point - mainly attachments, links and previews in texts, as well as certain complex web browsing technologies.

    I’ve had Lockdown mode on since it’s been released. I miss having 2FA code autofilled from text messages, and there’s the occasional website that’ll need to be whitelisted as it may display an emoji instead of a custom font… but aside from that, it’s barely an inconvenience.

    Your telco is always going to be a weak point in a scenario like this, but better that than your phone because a hostile actor sent you a text message that embedded silent persistent spyware.