South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been identified in a leaked database at the heart of the Pegasus Project which includes cellphone numbers of government leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, according to an investigation conducted by the Guardian. Earlier this week the report by the Guardian revealed that one of the countries that bought or used the software is Rwanda. The latest revelations also show that Rwanda used the software to select the South African President in 2019. The presence of a phone number in the data does not reveal whether a device was infected with Pegasus or subject to an attempted hack. However, the consortium believes the data is indicative of the potential targets NSO’s government clients identified in advance of possible surveillance attempts. In response to the Guardian investigation, a spokesperson for the Rwandan government said the country “does not use this software system … and does not possess this technical capability in any form”.
SOURCE: IOL