The Guardian : Important information for Thai democracy activists and also exiled dissidents.

Andrew MacGregor Marshall@zenjournalist

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45m

 Important information for Thai democracy activists and also exiled dissidents. A leak has revealed more than 50,000 people around the world who may have been targeted with the Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli firm NSO Group https://theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/revealed-leak-uncovers-global-abuse-of-cyber-surveillance-weapon-nso-group-pegasus1/9

 

 

Revealed: leak uncovers global abuse of cyber surveillance weapon

Spyware sold to authoritarian regimes used to target activists, politicians and journalists, data suggests

theguardian.com

This spyware can be installed remotely and allows everything on your phone to be accessed and monitored. It is extremely sophisticated and dangerous. Hundreds of activists and journalists have been targeted. https://theguardian.com/news/2021/jul/18/what-is-pegasus-spyware-and-how-does-it-hack-phones 2/9

However I can confirm that no Thai numbers are in the leaked list and the numbers of exiled dissidents (and me) are also not on the list. So far, it seems, the Thai regime has not acquired Pegasus spyware from NSO Group. This is very good news, and quite surprising actually3/9 

But it is just a matter of time before the Thai regime tries to acquire Pegasus or a similar kind of spyware so it’s essential to be vigilant and take precautions to keep everybody safe. They will do their best to break into our phones and it’s a serious risk. 4/9

If your phone is infected with Pegasus spyware everything is compromised — they can get all your passwords, see all your activity, track your location. End-to-end encryption apps like Signal or WhatsApp are no defence, they can see all your messages too. 5/9

A new tool developed by@amnesty allows you to check your device for spyware and you should do this regularly. It’s very important. https://mvt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html 6/9

Also always be aware your device may be monitored and try to avoid saying anything that could put you or others at risk. Use the disappearing messages function on Signal and WhatsApp. Turn off location tracking if you don’t want your location known. https://wired.co.uk/article/whatsapp-signal-disappearing-messages 7/9

Why you need to use disappearing messages on WhatsApp and Signal

Disappearing messages add an extra level of privacy. Here’s how to turn them on and when you should be using them

wired.co.uk

Always keep your phone operating system up to date. Consider having a second phone, ideally not linked to your ID, which you use for sensitive communication, with the number only given to trusted contacts and no other apps installed. 8/9

It’s important not to be paranoid and we shouldn’t allow the threat of surveillance to deter or discourage us. But we do need to be prepared, and vigilant, to keep ourselves and everybody else as safe as possible. Keep going!  9/9