The million-dollar reporter How attackers hijacked the phone of Meduza co-founder Galina Timchenko, making her the first Russian journalist to be infected with Pegasus spyware — Meduza
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The public has known for years that governments around the world use software developed by an Israeli cyber-arms company to spy on journalists, opposition politicians, and activists. Investigative journalists published a series of bombshell reports in July 2021 about the widespread abuse of Pegasus, a powerful tool marketed exclusively to state clients for use against only the grisliest criminals. Earlier this summer, Meduza learned that the iPhone of our co-founder and publisher, Galina Timchenko, was infected with Pegasus mere hours before she joined a private conference in Berlin attended by colleagues in the exiled Russian independent media. This is the first confirmed case of a Pegasus attack against a Russian journalist. With help from experts at Access Now and Citizen Lab, Meduza reports what we know about this notorious spyware, how it’s been used in Europe, and which states might have spent millions of dollars to hijack Ms. Timchenko’s phone.

Pegasus is a highly sophisticated and controversial spyware tool developed by the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group. Pegasus is designed to infiltrate and infect mobile devices, including smartphones, and it allows the attacker to remotely monitor and collect a wide range of information from the compromised device. This information can include text messages, call logs, emails, GPS location data, and more. It can also be used to activate the device’s microphone and camera for audio and video surveillance.