Report claims over 300 phone numbers of ministers, journos, activists, bizman could have been hacked

New Delhi: The Government of India on Sunday night squarely denied allegations of hacking into more than 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including over 40 senior journalists, Union ministers, lawyers, activists, human rights workers and even a Supreme Court judge, as an investigative reporting series by around 17 media organisations from across the globe, broke the news that several government clients of Israeli defence research company NSO, including India, had allegedly targetted journalists, lawyers, activists, government leaders and ministers for a possible surveillance operation.

While the NSO Group has also been on the fence about the leaked database, which contains as many as 50,000 phone numbers from across the world, the collaborative investigative series dubbed "The Pegasus Project", has managed to conduct a forensic analysis on a small number of 67 phone numbers of significant individuals, of which it found that 37 had Pegasus activity.

To be clear, the mention of a phone number on the list does not confirm a hack through Pegasus. For this, a physical forensic examination of the device is required.

The reporting project was coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based media nonprofit organisation, after it and Amnesty International initially accessed the leak of the phone numbers - believed to be of possible targets of clients of NSO Group, who had been using the Pegasus software.

Significantly, the NSO Group has time and again insisted that Pegasus clients only consist of an approved list of governments and their agencies in 40 countries. The company claimed these governments are vetted.

In India, a news website The Wire has collaborated on the project and publications such as The Washington Post in the US, Guardian in the UK, Le Monde in France and Suddeutsche Zeitung in Germany among other prominent Mexican, Arab and European news organisations.

According to The Wire's report, at least 10 Indian phone numbers found in this leaked list were forensically examined and confirmed to have undergone a hack from Pegasus. Among other numbers present in the list, the report said it included at least two Central ministers and at least one Supreme Court judge.

While the government had denied these allegations to the Pegasus Project, on Sunday night, after the reports were published, the Indian government said.

"The questionnaire sent to the Government of India indicates that the story being crafted is one that is not only bereft of facts but also founded in pre-conceived conclusions. It seems you are trying to play the role of an investigator, prosecutor as well as jury."

"India is a robust democracy that is committed to ensuring the right to privacy to all its citizens as a fundamental right. The commitment to free speech as a fundamental right is the cornerstone of India's democratic system. We have always strived to attain an informed citizenry with an emphasis on a culture of open dialogue," it added, questioning the research and due diligence in the reports.

Significantly, The Guardian has now reported that the investigative consortium has been able to confirm at least 10 governments believed to be NSO clients - including the one in India.

The Indian government, however, continued, "The allegations regarding government surveillance on specific people have no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever. In the past, similar claims were made regarding the use of Pegasus on WhatsApp by the Indian State. Those reports also had no factual basis and were categorically denied by all parties, including WhatsApp in the Indian Supreme Court."

Again, while this might have been true, WhatsApp has currently filed a lawsuit against the NSO Group for the hack in 2019, that had compromised the data of thousands of WhatsApp users.

"This news report, thus, also appears to be a similar fishing expedition, based on conjectures and exaggerations to malign the Indian democracy and its institutions," the government claimed, insisting that Indian law has rules for surveillance of individuals and that no action had been taken by the Government in contravention of these rules.

However, the Pegasus Project has revealed the violation of other rules - the ones agreed to by the governments purchasing the software and the NSO Group.

Responding to questions from the journalists who reported this list, the NSO Group had said it had "good reason to believe" the leaked data "may be part of a larger list of numbers that might have been used by NSO Group customers for other purposes".

According to reports on the leaks so far, the NSO Group has said that it vetted every single government client that has ever bought Pegasus and their regulation requires specific permission from the government for every export of defence software. It added that the clients are not approved without checking their records in human rights and under the condition that they be used only for criminal and national security investigations.

However, this investigation has now seemingly revealed that some government clients might be using the software for "other purposes".

According to The Wire's reports on the leaks so far, several accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case had been allegedly targetted and their phone numbers had appeared on this list. In addition, the report said that their lawyers, friends, and family members also featured on the list.

This comes after explosive reports confirming tampering with the computers of at least three of the 16 accused in the case - all activists, lawyers, scholars and human rights workers.

In addition, The Wire has reported that three major Opposition politicians and current and former heads and officials of security organisations and scores of businesspersons. In addition, documents of the Pegasus Project also reveal that Umar Khalid, the former JNU student leader, currently in jail for the Delhi riots, was also targetted. Forbidden Stories has said that his phone had been compromised throughout 2018 and 2019. All media organisations reporting on the leaks have said that more reports from the documents are expected in the coming day. Furthermore, with Parliament set to begin the Monsoon Session today (Monday), these allegations are expected to be raised in the House.