President Macron's Phone Number Is On The Pegasus Leaked List, Who's Bugging?

French President Emmanuel Macron is said to be among a list of 50,000 names on the Pegasus target list. (photo: instagram)

JAKARTA - French President Emmanuel Macron's phone number is said to be among a list of 50,000 names on the target list of Pegasus, an Israeli NSA company. This is of course a question, who included Macron, as the highest profile figure in France as a target, why and what are his interests?

It was disclosed by France's Le Monde that Macron's number and the phone numbers of several members of the French government appeared on a list of 50,000 targets obtained by Amnesty International and Forbidden News for NSO's controversial Pegasus programme.

However, there is no way to know for sure, is Macron's phone infected with Pegasus or not? It's just that he's on the list of targets requested by NSO clients. This has caused an uproar for the French government.

"If the story is true, it is clearly very serious. All light will be on this press release," said a spokesman for the French presidency.

Pegasus is a piece of malware that infects smartphones, exploiting vulnerabilities present in the technology. Malware can be installed by texting a malicious link to be clicked on.

Pegasus — once installed — is virtually undetectable, and can access the phone, including call logs, messages, emails. The software can activate microphones and cameras to record conversations, essentially turning the smartphone into a walking surveillance device.

It says location services can be activated, and the whereabouts of the owner of the phone can be tracked to demonstrate accuracy.

In 2020, NSO was sued by Facebook-owned WhatsApp for allegedly exploiting a vulnerability in the popular app to spy on users, including 1,400 activists and journalists, who were told they were being spied on. The vulnerability was finally fixed by WhatsApp.

Israel's Ministry of Defense licenses Pegasus software for export to foreign governments, but not private entities.