Pegasus is commercial spyware developed by NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance company. Sold exclusively to governments and law enforcement agencies.
Pegasus does not require the target to click a link. It exploits zero-day vulnerabilities to compromise a device silently, accessing messages, calls, emails, photos, and activating the microphone and camera without any indication.
Documented targets include journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and political figures across dozens of countries.
There is no consumer-level defense against a fully deployed Pegasus attack. Mitigation: keep devices updated, enable iOS Lockdown Mode in high-risk environments.
What it means in practice
Pegasus is a zero-click spyware — it compromises devices with no action required from the target. Documented targets include journalists, human rights lawyers, diplomats, and opposition figures. Consumer-grade security measures provide no reliable protection against Pegasus. Citizen Lab’s device auditing methodology is the closest thing to a practical detection approach available to high-risk individuals.
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