2021-12-20 03:53:13
Pegasus Spyware
GS Paper - 3
Cyber Security
Cyber Warfare
Challenges to Internal Security Through Communication Networks
GS Paper - 2
Government Policies & Interventions
Why in News
Recently, it has been reported that Pegasus, the malicious software, has allegedly been used to secretly monitor and spy on an extensive host of public figures in India.
Key Points
About Pegasus:
It is a type of malicious software or malware classified as a spyware.
It is designed to gain access to devices, without the knowledge of users, and gather personal information and relay it back to whoever it is that is using the software to spy.
Pegasus has been developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group that was set up in 2010.
The earliest version of Pegasus discovered, which was captured by researchers in 2016, infected phones through what is called spear-phishing – text messages or emails that trick a target into clicking on a malicious link.
Since then, however, NSO’s attack capabilities have become more advanced. Pegasus infections can be achieved through so-called “zero-click” attacks, which do not require any interaction from the phone’s owner in order to succeed.
Targets:
Human Rights activists, journalists and lawyers around the world have been targeted with phone malware sold to authoritarian governments by an Israeli surveillance firm.
Indian ministers, government officials and opposition leaders also figure in the list of people whose phones may have been compromised by the spyware.
In 2019, WhatsApp filed a lawsuit in the US court against Israel's NSO Group, alleging that the firm was incorporating cyber-attacks on the application by infecting mobile devices with malicious software.
Recent Steps Taken in India:
Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative: It was launched in 2018 with an aim to spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
National Cyber security Coordination Centre (NCCC): In 2017, the NCCC was developed to scan internet traffic and communication metadata (which are little snippets of information hidden inside each communication) coming into the country to detect real-time cyber threats.
Cyber Swachhta Kendra: In 2017, this platform was introduced for internet users to clean their computers and devices by wiping out viruses and malware.
Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C): I4C was recently inaugurated by the government.
National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal has also been launched pan India.
Computer Emergency Response Team - India (CERT-IN): It is the nodal agency which deals with cybersecurity threats like hacking and phishing.
Legislation:
Information Technology Act, 2000.
Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019.
Types of Cyber Attacks
Malware: It is short for malicious software, refers to any kind of software that is designed to cause damage to a single computer, server, or computer network. Ransomware, Spy ware, Worms, viruses, and Trojans are all varieties of malware.
Phishing: It is the method of trying to gather personal information using deceptive e-mails and websites.
Denial of Service attacks: A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack is an attack meant to shut down a machine or network, making it inaccessible to its intended users.
DoS attacks accomplish this by flooding the target with traffic, or sending it information that triggers a crash.
Etc
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