HYDERABAD: The state government, through its Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence, will study the Israeli malware Pegasus, responsible for spying on various activists of the country, including one from Telangana, over WhatsApp.
Speaking to Express, Principal Secretary of IT and Industries Jayesh Ranjan said, “In our Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence, we will study the nature of the spyware and the remedies available to counter such attacks.”
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Ranjan said that in the next meeting of the CoE, a decision would be taken regarding the agency that would take up the studies and so forth. He added that the research would be long-term, would look into solutions and spread awareness among citizens.
The Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence - Telangana is a joint initiative of Nasscomm’s Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and the State government. Pegasus, the malware in question, spies on people via their phones. It was developed by Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity company NSO group.
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Ranjan also said that the State was awaiting instructions from the Central government regarding the future measures. “The Central government is verifying with WhatsApp the kind of breaches in their encryption systems. This is the most logical thing to do. If this was only a State-wide thing, we would have followed the same line of approach. Since it has happened all over the country, we will await an advisory from the Centre,” he added.
On Friday, Ravindranath Balla, the general secretary of the AP/TS chapter of Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, announced that he too was spied on over WhatsApp. Balla, who works for the rights of political prisoners including Maoists, was named in an FIR for allegedly having links with a Maoist group.