Where Smartphones Became Spyware Piñatas

A spying scandal in Mexico widened after it was confirmed by experts that several of the country’s top opposition leaders — along with journalists and human rights advocates — were targeted by high-tech spyware exclusively sold to governments.

The Internet watchdog group Citizen Lab exposed the scandal (in June) in a report that showed that spyware known as Pegasus had been used in recent years to infiltrate the cellphones of 12 prominent journalists and rights activists, all of whom had been critical of the Mexican government...

The victims received messages with links to the malware, which, when activated, allows outsiders to remotely access a phone’s data as well as activate its camera and microphone. more