Do you know how much it costs to infiltrate and deploy Pegasus on a phone?
The price list is reportedly from 2016. Four years on, with improvements to the technology and code that makes Pegasus more lethal than it probably did in 2016, that price would only have gone higher.
 )
FollowPegasus, the spyware, has rocked governments and law enforcement agencies across the world with its scope and ability to target persons of interest.
The impact of the revelations made by media outlets about surveillance spyware, developed by the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group and sold by the company to "vetted clients", has had many crying out aloud about individual privacy.
International relations are strained, too, with the alleged revelations that have emerged. According to reports, relations between Israel and France have taken a hit after media claims that French President Emmanuel Macron's phone was targeted using spyware.
READ: How does the Pegasus spyware work?
The United States has expressed concerns with Israeli diplomats with regard to the use of Pegasus to spy upon politicians, journalists and human rights activists instead of its stated goal of helping track down terrorists and criminals.
The outrage and concerns have prompted Israeli defence ministry officials to launch a probe into the matter. Investigators are examining whether there was a violation of the export license on behalf of NSO Group and if there was a need to change the country's policy on the export of disruptive cyber technology.
As a beginning of sorts, NPR reported that the NSO group had temporarily blocked access to several government clients across the world for the time being to examine the claim of misuse.
The NPR report, however, did not reveal the names of "vetted clients" whose access had been suspended.
READ: Pegasus Spyware: What is a zero-click attack & how to evade it?
But do you know how much it costs to infiltrate and deploy Pegasus on a victim's phone?
According to The New York Times report, dated September 2016, back the day the NSO Group charged customers $500,000 just to infiltrate ten devices. And, of course, an additional $650,000 was also charged to deploy the spyware into those devices, along with an annual system maintenance fee of 17%.
The NYT report also reportedly gave out a cost per platform in 2016:
* iPhone: $650,000 for 10 iPhone devices
* Android: $650,000 for 10 Android devices
* BlackBerry: $500,000 for 5 BlackBerry devices
* Symbian phones: $300,000 for 5 Symbian users
(All rates exclude the $500,000 fee)
Additional targets came at a premium, the newspaper claimed.
* $800,000: 100 additional targets
* $500,000: 50 additional targets
* $250,000: 20 additional targets
* $150,000: 10 additional targets
Four years on, with improvements to the technology and code that makes Pegasus more lethal than it probably did in 2016, that price would only have gone higher.
And with media reports citing databases allegedly obtained by Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International to claim that over 50,000 phone numbers were under the Pegasus radar, the significant takeaway is the amount governments spend on surveillance of persons of interest.
subscribe to Asianet Newsable WhatsApp channel by clicking here.For more reliable and latest news
subscribe to Asianet Newsable Telegram channel by clicking here.
