Self-scans reveal that Pegasus, an invasive and powerful spyware that can secretly control phones and track owners, might be more widespread than previously thought. It was discovered on the phones of everyday phone users.
From wikiHow: How to Check Your Smartphone for Pegasus Spyware
There could be spyware on your phone! Install this shady app to find out if you have the spyware or not!
I wonder if the shady app in the link is the spyware. This would be a brilliant way of getting on to people’s phones.
Yeah, I see what you mean and on top of that you would need to pay for it.
That’s why I added in the description a link with instructions on the free tool designed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab.
My thoughts exactly… If there’s a FOSS tool to check, then we’d be talking.
Lol I almost linked you to your own comment
Yeah, I’ll just assume that my GrapheneOS install is safe, the checker probably wouldn’t work anyway…
I haven’t checked, does GrapheneOS do reproducible/deterministic builds so that you could verify that the published release matches your image? The boot attestation should not be able to be circumvented, if you trust Google hardware to do what it says on the tin.
Thanks, interesting. I have used boot attestation but not yet Auditor. Hope to have some quality time reading up on the documentation in the coming three weeks.
I’m considering running my own build farm for updates, so maybe I’ll write up a post about it if I get to it.
What do you mean??? WikiHow is a collection of only the most reliable tutorials and information. Now be good and install the shady app.
It worked with antivirus scanning - more than half of Windows PCs have spyware on them their users consciously installed so that it would scan and report what they run.
All windows PCs have spyware on them by definition
Nothing like a shading backdoor onto people’s devices than a literal Trojan horse such as a virus scanner.
That’s outdated stuff. Pegasus doesn’t need phishing methods to get on your phone. It just installs itself when an actor sends it your way. You won’t notice it and the only way to prevent it is to not use a phone.
It technically uses various zero-day zero-click exploits to get there. Which is why it functions like a service - they need to maintain relevance of those exploits. Imagine, a whole service of clearly illegal activity, which doesn’t get absolutely destroyed simply because it’s useful to spy on dissidents.
Doesn’t seem like they’d offer the ability to scan an existing backup without touching your device, if that were the case
Amnesty International provides a FOSS tool to check your mobile backups for traces of the Pegasus Spyware. I’d trust that over a sketchy proprietary app. Link: https://docs.mvt.re/.
Cool. I had no idea. Still…
MVT is a forensic research tool intended for technologists and investigators. Using it requires understanding the basics of forensic analysis and using command-line tools. MVT is not intended for end-user self-assessment. If you are concerned with the security of your device please seek expert assistance.
It can help you if you think you are BUT especially with iPhones it can only scan your backup, unless you jailbreak the phone and can do a full disk dump.
As a mobile security expert this is just one of the tools in the kit, but it ought not be used by a “end user” as a verification tool. This does NOT verify you aren’t being tracked, it can only verify that signatures of the malware exist.
And would signatures of Pegasus exist in the backup?
Yes. Maybe. Sometimes. Much more likely if you do an encrypted backup and decrypt it with the tool.
Regardless it’s not guaranteed to pick them up.
May give it a try one of these days. But knowing nothing of the reliability of the tool in detecting the malware decreases my motivation to even try I must say.
The warning was meant for you.
Everyone is safe from Pegasus …
Except cell phone owners (which is most everyone)
Exception to the exception : people who know about this excellent FOOS tool (and know someone who can use it) - - thanks
Ugh. So it looks like I can’t even do this with Termux. Gotta dig out one of my few cables that does data transfer.
You can use pip to install the tool.
it’s call mvt
Your package manager might have it.
If you’re on a Mac just use brew to install it.
Don’t use this third party app.
Download a random app an execute it blindly to check for some malware I’ve never heard of? Hard pass.
I fully understand, but not knowing about Pegasus malware is pretty weird. It’s state actor spyware made by Israel (with worldwide governmental funding).
If you’ve been around tech circles for any length of time, sure, but your average person probably hasn’t heard of it.
I’ve doublechecked this, and you are indeed correct. The news is still reported on, but Pegasus is not always mentioned by name and if it is it’s mostly a single mention in a little passage.
Damn, I oughtta give my phone a check
Let’s say there are signs of it being infected. What can you do next?
I don’t know the full answer, but Pegasus isn’t one single piece of spyware, but rather a toolkit of many, many zero-day exploits.
A lot of them (the majority maybe?) are non-persistent meaning that they don’t survive a reboot.
That said, aside from keeping your phone up to date with security patches and rebooting frequently, I’m not sure there’s much the average person can do if you’re actively being targeted.
Buy/replace your phone
How do you keep that one from reinfecting?
You can try factory reset, but more than likely they control the boot process, so you can’t get rid of the malware no matter what you do.
You might be able to trade it in with your manufacturer. They might be interested in having an infected phone to study.
Reinstall rom
I installed GrapheneOS the moment I got my phone, which should give me a few protections over standard Android.
Longer term, I intend to get a Linux phone, I’m just waiting for the hardware and software to improve. I already almost entirely avoid the Play store, so making the final switch shouldn’t be that big of a jump.
And google pixel flashed on Ubuntu touch? 😏
I’m hoping my Pixel flashed w/ GrapheneOS is good to go.
Yeah, probably.
I forgot about Ubuntu touch. How is the experience?
Terrible experience. Nothing works, everything slow, and the main thing inside the blobs is still android, without which of course it will not work
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I don’t think I saw it mentioned but if you’re already running/subbed to bitdefender av then you can install that on phone to detect it.
I’d be careful about completely trusting any AV to give you any certainty that you aren’t infected.
As I mentioned in another comment, Pegasus is comprised of many different exploits. So just because Bitdefender can detect some older Pegasus variants, doesn’t mean it can detect all of them.
In fact it’s quite unlikely they can detect the latest variants.
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I don’t care. I’m a wage slave. Not a senator or exec at some financial firm.
Cool I bet you sleep with your curtains/blinds open, don’t lock your doors and post your address online right? Who cares about privacy.
