The Supreme Court-appointed panels probing the unauthorised use of Pegasus found some kind of malware in five mobile phones out of the 29 examined but it could not be concluded that it was due to the Israeli spyware.
This episode highlights that the country's surveillance systems are not robust enough to ward off and prevent such attacks in the future.
More than 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two serving ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of business persons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to government agencies, an international media consortium reported on Sunday.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Prahlad Singh Patel, as also former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and poll strategist Prashant Kishor were among those whose phone numbers were listed as potential targets for hacking through an Israeli spyware sold only to the government agencies, an international media consortium reported on Monday.
'If the authorities go about completing this project the way they have proposed, this is going to cause a HUGE environmental impact not only on Malabar Hill but also on the rest of the city.'
The Supreme Court-appointed committees, entrusted with the probe of unauthorised use of Pegasus, have given a slew of recommendations including amending laws to protect citizens' right to privacy and ensure the nation's cyber security.
The Congress on Thursday attacked the Modi government over the issue, alleging that it had been "caught snooping". The Opposition demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the "illegal hacking" of cellphones.
'Just because a subject is uncomfortable for some and doesn't suit their political ideology, should a film not be made?'
The army in its warning has asked personnel about the need to be sensitised about the Pakistani spy agencies' designs while downloading the application.
He said his official FB page had been 'hacked and blocked' in 2018 but that there has been no response from the police on a complaint filed by him on the matter so far.
The Wire news portal, in the third part of its revelations from the international collaborative journalistic investigation called the Pegasus Project, reported that those marked as potential targets for surveillance include Ambedkarite activist Ashok Bharti; academic and chronicler of life in Naxal-dominated regions Bela Bhatia; railway union leader Shiv Gopal Mishra and Delhi-based labour rights activist Anjani Kumar.
The country's cyber security agency CERT-In has advised Facebook users to strengthen their account privacy settings after a recent global 'data scraping' incident in the social media platform affected about 61 lakh Indians.
The content 'actioned' belonged to categories including bullying and harassment, violent and graphic content, adult nudity and sexual activity, child endangerment, dangerous organisations and individuals, and spam, among others.
'The skin of any celebrity will show its age more than a normal person because we are always exposed to lights. So, we need to take extra care.'
The Congress on Monday demanded an independent probe into the issue involving alleged phone tapping of prominent personalities including journalists in India using Israeli Pegasus spyware.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said steps taken by the social media giant have helped protect the integrity of more than 200 different elections around the world, including in India, and have also played an important role in stopping abuse ahead of US elections.
Intelligent tools are being deployed to detect content pirated from OTT platforms.
The Orwellian surveillance State is here. And here to stay, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
As per the report released on Monday, the over 26.9 million content pieces actioned by Facebook during September included content related to spam (20.3 million), violent and graphic content (3.4 million), adult nudity and sexual activity (2.4 million), and hate speech (182,200).
The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Friday, instead of Wednesday, a batch of pleas alleging the use of Israeli spyware for surveillance of certain people in India, after taking note of the submissions of the solicitor-general that he would be busy arguing a money-laundering case in another court.
Citizens won't have faith in Digital India if their hard-earned money is looted by cyber criminals and cyber fraudsters from banks.
Counsels for AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam accused Christian Michel and fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi were also the potential targets of Israeli spyware Pegasus.
The attack comes in the backdrop of the regulatory authority uploading about one million comments on net neutrality
With ever evolving social media, the threat of child abuse often manifests itself in new avatars like the Blue Whale Challenge and Sarahah.
Three experts on cyber security, digital forensics, networks and hardware were roped in by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to "enquire, investigate and determine" whether Pegasus spyware was used for snooping on citizens and their probe would be monitored by former apex court judge R V Raveendran.
From your fingerprint to most private images and financial info -- all your privacy is under constant threat from hackers.
'Before the elections, fake news can create law and order hassles and that is the reason they want social media firms to follow the amended IT Act.'
People think I do this for money, but I don't. I do it because I value data privacy, says Anand Prakash.
Nir Eyal lists 4 urgent steps to save yourself countless hours of mindless phone time.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
Facebook -- which counts India among its largest markets with over 300 million users -- has been in the eye of a storm after a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report alleged that the social media platform's content policies favoured the ruling party in India. The report had accused Facebook of ignoring posts containing hate speech by BJP MLA Raja Singh. Since then, the ruling BJP and Congress have been trading barbs over the social media giant's alleged political bias.
If you think nobody will ever try to breach your data online get out of your shell. NOW!
Top chefs are sharing comfort food recipes to turn their followers into cooks.
'If the platform is public, then every Indian regardless of his ideology and commitment has got the right to convey his view'
The updated election ads policy for India will require advertisers to provide a 'pre-certificate' issued by the EC or anyone authorised by the poll panel, for each ad. Further, Google will verify the identity of advertisers before their election ads run on its platforms, reports Peerzada Abrar.
In April, RBI had to issue a warning about a mobile application.
Both protesters and the authorities in Hong Kong are using complex combinations of technology, reports Devangshu Datta.
The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch has pointed out that these firms pose a threat to domestic manufacturing and retailing as they do not pay relevant taxes such as GST, giving them a huge edge over local players.
'The time has come, my fellow citizens, for us to pause in our selfish little lives, take a breath, and contribute to creating this opportunity for fundamentalists to achieve their full potential,' says Mitali Saran.
Six working professionals tell us how they balance time between work and family.
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