On 30 May, a new report produced by the digital rights organisation Access Now and Citizen Lab revealed the details of the latest Pegasus attack on Russian and Belarusian journalists and activists. Pegasus, a sophisticated spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group made headlines in 2021 when it was discovered to have been targeted at thousands of people from all over the globe, including human rights activists and media workers. What makes this spyware so dangerous is that it doesn’t require clicking on a link and some victims may never discover that they’ve been hacked. It can penetrate IOS and Android systems and gain full access to a device- including photos, passwords emails and even microphone.

In this episode of Trouble with the Truth, Lana talks to Natalia Krapiva, the Senior Tech-Legal Counsel at Access Now about the latest targets of Pegasus attacks. Among them: the CEO of Novaya Gazeta, Maria Epifanova, journalists Evgeny Pavlov and Evgeny Erlikh, Belarusian activist Andrei Sannikovand, and the editor-in-chief of independent Belarusian media website Charter97.org - Natallia Radzina. They discuss what makes Pegasus so hard to identify and who could be behind it - while Russian and Belarusian authorities are the most obvious suspects, the truth is more complex. Finally, Natalia shares some useful advice on how journalists can protect themselves from spyware and what steps they should take if they discover they’ve been hacked.

Useful resources:
Access Now Digital Security helpline: https://www.accessnow.org/help/
Citizen Lab Tools & Resources: https://citizenlab.ca/category/research/tools-resources/
Justice for Journalists Media Safety Academy: https://jfj.academy/en/