Report: NSO’s Pegasus Can Scrape Data from Cloud Servers
Ami Rojkes Dombe
| 21/07/2019
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A report from the Financial Times reveals the NSO Group’s Pegasus malware can not only access information stored on a target’s device, but even access a user’s information stored in the cloud.
The Israeli company has reportedly “told buyers its technology can surreptitiously scrape all of an individual’s data from the servers of Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft.”
According to the report, NSO Group’s parent company Q-Cyber is advertising Pegasus as having the capability to copy authentication keys to services including Google Drive, Facebook Messenger, and iCloud from an infected phone to a web server that is then capable of independently downloading the target’s entire online history.
“It works on any device that Pegasus can infect, including many of the latest iPhones and Android smartphones, according to the documents, and allows ongoing access to data uploaded to the cloud from laptops, tablets and phones – even if Pegasus is removed from the initially targeted smartphone,” the Times wrote.
Amazon told the FT there was no evidence its servers had been breached. Facebook said it was reviewing the claims, while Microsoft said its security tools are “continually evolving” and Apple noted that while “expensive tools may exist to perform targeted attacks,” it does “not believe these are useful for widespread attacks against consumers.” Google declined to comment.
NSO’s Response
“The Financial Times got it wrong. NSO’s products do not provide the type of collection capabilities and access to cloud applications, services, or infrastructure suggested in this article,” the company said in a statement. “Increasingly sophisticated terrorists and criminals are taking advantage of encrypted technologies to plan and conceal their crimes, leaving intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the dark and putting public safety and national security at risk. NSO’s lawful interception products are designed to confront this challenge. Our products are licensed in small scale to legitimate government intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of preventing or investigating serious crime, including terrorism.”
bigstockphoto
A report from the Financial Times reveals the NSO Group’s Pegasus malware can not only access information stored on a target’s device, but even access a user’s information stored in the cloud.
The Israeli company has reportedly “told buyers its technology can surreptitiously scrape all of an individual’s data from the servers of Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft.”
According to the report, NSO Group’s parent company Q-Cyber is advertising Pegasus as having the capability to copy authentication keys to services including Google Drive, Facebook Messenger, and iCloud from an infected phone to a web server that is then capable of independently downloading the target’s entire online history.
“It works on any device that Pegasus can infect, including many of the latest iPhones and Android smartphones, according to the documents, and allows ongoing access to data uploaded to the cloud from laptops, tablets and phones – even if Pegasus is removed from the initially targeted smartphone,” the Times wrote.
Amazon told the FT there was no evidence its servers had been breached. Facebook said it was reviewing the claims, while Microsoft said its security tools are “continually evolving” and Apple noted that while “expensive tools may exist to perform targeted attacks,” it does “not believe these are useful for widespread attacks against consumers.” Google declined to comment.
NSO’s Response
“The Financial Times got it wrong. NSO’s products do not provide the type of collection capabilities and access to cloud applications, services, or infrastructure suggested in this article,” the company said in a statement. “Increasingly sophisticated terrorists and criminals are taking advantage of encrypted technologies to plan and conceal their crimes, leaving intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the dark and putting public safety and national security at risk. NSO’s lawful interception products are designed to confront this challenge. Our products are licensed in small scale to legitimate government intelligence and law enforcement agencies for the sole purpose of preventing or investigating serious crime, including terrorism.”
