The mobile numbers of President Cyril Ramaphosa, French president Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders have been identified in the leaked database that forms part of the Pegasus project, the Guardian reports.

The mobile numbers of President Cyril Ramaphosa, French president Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders have been identified in a leaked database that forms part of the Pegasus project, the Guardian reports.
The Pegasus Project is an international investigative journalism effort that aims to reveal spying abuses by various governments on journalists, politicians, activists, business people and others using the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
The NSO Group is an Israeli technology firm whose spyware enables the remote surveillance of smartphones. It was officially marketed for surveillance of serious criminals and terrorists.
The appearance of a number on the leaked list does not mean it was subject to an attempted or successful hack, the Guardian said, but the list is believed to be indicative of individuals identified as ‘persons of interest’ by government clients of NSO.
It includes people who were later targeted for surveillance, according to forensic analysis of their phones.
In addition to Macron and Ramaphosa, other political figures whose numbers appear in the list include:

• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organizations director-general;
• Charles Michel, the president of the European Council;
• Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan.

The backlash to the spying allegations has already been swift, with Amnesty International condemning the NSO Group and its software.
The unprecedented revelation that the phones of at least fourteen heads of state may have been hacked using NSO Groups Pegasus spyware should send a chill down the spine of world leaders,” said Amnesty Internationals secretary-general Agnes Callamard.
We have long known that activists and journalists are targets of this surreptitious phone-hacking but its clear that even those at the highest levels of power cannot escape the sinister spread of NSOs spyware.
“NSO Group can no longer hide behind the claim that its spyware is only used to fight crime it appears that Pegasus is also the spyware of choice for those wanting to snoop on foreign governments.”
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