This book is an absolute must read! It reads like a thriller and had me on the edge of my seat the whole time but unfortunately it is all true. In fact, once this story broke and showed how the NSO (Pegasus) was not just selling cybersurveillance to catch "bad guys" but rather it was being sold to governments to spy on other governments as well as journalists and human rights activists and any one critical of the government in charge. The company was able to exploit holes in Apple IOS to take over someone's phones -- at least 50,000 individuals were on the lists of having their phone hacked. Once this story broke a few years ago, many assurances were made by the company NSO that they would ensure that their software was not being sold to "bad actors" - however, the New York Times reported in the last week that their investigation reveals the story behind how Mexico became the first and most prolific user of Pegasus. and that It’s still using it, despite promising to stop. Even if the company does stop -there are many other companies who would be willing to take up the mantle on this as they see this as a profitable business, Books like this are critically important in a time where journalism is under attack and we are seeing less investigative journalism and more recycled fluffy news stories in our local papers due to cost-cutting and consolidation in the news media industry. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Company for an ARC and I voluntarily left an honest review.

Pegasus by Laurent Richard et. al. is an engrossing read.. A superb job with plot and characters. Well worth the read.

This book is a fascinating story both of a team of journalists working to uncover a story and an expose about a very dangerous technology that has the potential for dystopian implications. It is very well written and suspenseful, especially for a non-fiction book.

Loved the Book. Credible Journalism at its finest.

The tagline on the cover says it all – How a spy in your pocket threatens the end of privacy, dignity, and democracy.

Gulp.

Aside from the sweat-inducing fear the story gives me, I’m immensely grateful and sleep better at night knowing there are talented, ethical, and fact-checking journalists such as the authors and their compatriots out there grinding through perilous days to uncover the truth. Laurent and Sandrine work for a commendable organization called Forbidden Stories. I strongly suggest you check out the site. It will give you a glimpse of the herculean dedication a collaboration of journalists endures to publish their important work without getting killed. (119 journalists were killed in Mexico in the last 20 years). I’m now following the authors and Forbidden Stories everywhere and consider them a source of real news that I can trust.

The book is about a cyber spying program called Pegasus that NSO—a cybersurveillance company in Israel—developed. Pegasus malware can infect phones allowing the end user (whoever bought it from NSO) full access to your contacts, texts, camera, calendars, geo-location, everything. It even allows them to listen in on your phone in real time and you wouldn’t know it. Yeah. NSO was supposed to sell its “defensive” weapon to countries and legitimate police-type organizations to help prevent terrorism and crime. But . . . money is king. And it’s now used offensively against – you name it. Journalists are a huge target. Dissenters of authoritarian governments. Human rights activists. People who need to be intimated. Basically, the good guys. Control the news, control information, silence the truth-tellers, and you’ve got yourself a bingo.

Sad confession, I’m not terribly worldly and found the massive amount of information in the book on other countries, leaders, and movements a bit tricky to follow. Don’t shame me, but I looked up Morocco and read up on M6 – fun nickname for King Mohammed VI. Stuff like that. So bonus, I learned a lot about the world in general while reading this wonderful book.

The trojan horse-type malware did make me go a bit crazy. We have willingly placed detectors of our every communication and movement on our person. And through appliances in our home. And with every click of the mouse, and through Tik Tok, etc. But I digress.

All it takes is one click on a link that you don’t recognize for the Pegasus malware to infect your phone. Pegasus goes fishing and tries to lure you in with text for something enticing or even from someone you know who you think might be sending you a message. A few days ago I received a text saying I’d purchased a $450 air conditioning unit and there was a link in the message for my ‘bank’. But hold up. It’s twenty below zero where I live. So whoever was behind that malware attempt might not have thought it through. It was a clever trick though since my impulse was to click the link and get to the bottom of the fraudulent charge. But I didn’t click. Because I was reading Pegasus. And while I don’t believe I’m the target of this particular and sophisticated malware since I’m basically nobody, there are lots of other dramas and pain brilliant criminal organizations can inflict.

Read the book. Learn a few things. Or in my case, a lot. And then support Forbidden Stories and brave journalists everywhere.

Thank you to Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud and everyone else involved who literally risks their lives daily. I’m bowing down.

A few weeks ago, I was watching the Rachel Maddow show, and she discussed the story of the cyber surveillance tool named Pegasus. Developed originally by a company called NSO (a private group based in Israel) as a way for the good guys to monitor the bad guys, it has apparently morphed into a tool used by the bad guys to target enemies…not necessarily bad guys from the US point of view.

The truly scary thing is that Pegasus infects mobile phones (or other devices) without the owner of the device having a clue they are under surveillance. (YIKES!) It has apparently been used to surveil hundreds (thousands?) of innocent people, including diplomats, heads of state, journalists…you get the idea. It is scary AF.

A data leak led to an investigation that led to the story being publicized. TBH it gave me nightmares. It is well done, and incredible storytelling. If only it were just a story. Five stars.

Big Brother is all too real for thousands of people. Some expect it, but others have no idea. With a list of over fifty thousand telephone numbers the non profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International's Security Lab set out to unravel what the surveillance software from the Israeli company NSO was being used for. This book is the story of the nuts and bolts of their research and publication. The software called Pegasus was touted as a way to catch terrorists, pedophiles, organized criminal organizations. It can take control of a phone without the target realizing it. That sort of power is hard to resist, especially by authoritarians who don't want opposition or talk of corruption. So activists, journalists, lawyers, and government officials are targets for surveillance and possible intimidation. The Pegasus Project brought a lot of this to light, but the participants don't kid themselves that it's been stopped. There are 'sidebars' about journalists working under hostile regimes and other topics. Although it reads much like a thriller the topic is all too real. It's disturbing, but necessary information.

Today class, for our daily dose of real life paranoia, we have Laurent Richard’s and Sandrine Rigaud’s brilliantly terrifying new book of investigative journalism, #Pegasus, which is the name of a cyber surveillance program sold by a company named NSO. Originally developed to keep tabs on the “bad guys” by the “good guys” , it has morphed into deadly tool purchased by the “bad guys” to enable them to target their enemies ( the “good guys”)..And here’s the kicker - it works by infecting your iPhone ( or other mobile device ) without you being aware of its presence. What this means is for the right price and wrong motive everybody is vulnerable to being under surveillance. Think about that ! #Pegasus is a fascinating tale of a nightmare tomorrow that is really today, and should not be missed.

The Pegasus project led to one of the most important breaking stories of 2021. The whole world learned about this malicious surveillance tool and how it was exploited by many supposedly democratic governments. Nobody could feel safe anymore, as the following publications vividly have shown - among the victims were journalists, opposition politicians, activists and business people.

From this book you will find out how journalists learned about this and then found enough proof to expose the wrongdoers. It is also a rare opportunity to understand how today’s investigative media works. Long gone are the times when a few journalists from a single outlet could shake the world with the results of their work. All the most important investigations are now done by international consortiums, usually led by small independent newsrooms or networks, like Forbidden Stories or Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Authors of this book generously share their modus operandi, describing in detail the ups and downs of being an independent investigative reporter.

The book is very well written and also describes many background stories of the journalists from countries such as Azerbaijan, Hungary or Morocco. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in news and international affairs.

Thanks to the publisher, Henry Holt and Company, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.