Congress party spokesperson Pawan Khera on April 10 flagged the issue of the government acquiring “new spyware” similar to the NSO Group’s Pegasus that was allegedly used to “snoop” on political opponents, journalists and democratic institutions.
Mr. Khera referred to The Hindu’s report on April 5 that the Signal Intelligence Directorate of the Defence Intelligence Agency had imported equipment from Cognyte, an Israeli firm that reportedly develops spyware similar to Pegasus, which allows governments around the world to gain complete access to phones of targets.
“Modi [government] is also desperately hunting for new spyware with a lower profile than the controversial Pegasus system, which was blacklisted by most countries,” Mr. Khera said, referring to a Financial Times article about the Indian government seeking bids for Pegasus alternatives from firms abroad.
“Who … authorised the purchase of illegal spyware ‘Pegasus’ and who is now authorising the purchase of ‘Cognyte’ or ‘Predator’ or ‘Quadream’ or its replacement,” Mr. Khera asked in a press note.
He asked if the Prime Minister, the Home Minister or the National Security Adviser had authorised the purchase of spyware.
The report of the Supreme Court-ordered investigation into the Indian government’s alleged use of Pegasus remains sealed. The government did not cooperate with the investigation, the court had said, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta refused to confirm or deny whether Pegasus had been purchased.
Trade data has since confirmed that the NSO Group exported equipment to the Intelligence Bureau in 2017. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said in a report that the hardware matched the specifications of hardware previously known to be used to deploy Pegasus.
