Last Updated on July 24, 2025 by Karl Thompson
What Is Pegasus Spyware?
Pegasus Spyware is a military-grade surveillance tool developed by the Israeli technology firm NSO Group. It can infect smartphones—both iPhones and Android devices—without any user interaction through “zero-click” exploits.
Once installed, it allows total remote access, including:
- Emails and text messages
- Encrypted chats (e.g., WhatsApp, Signal)
- Photos and videos
- GPS location in real time
- Microphone and camera (live surveillance)
🛑 Pegasus is one of the most invasive tools of state surveillance ever developed.
How Pegasus Hacks Your Phone
Unlike traditional malware that requires the victim to click a malicious link, Pegasus can install silently through software vulnerabilities. For example:
- Through missed WhatsApp calls
- Via vulnerabilities in apps or operating systems (iOS/Android)
- Without any visible trace for the user
This technology enables deep surveillance at scale, especially when wielded by authoritarian regimes.
NSO Group: Corporate Actor Behind the Spyware
The NSO Group claims to sell Pegasus only to governments for the purpose of investigating terrorism and serious crimes. It insists all clients are “vetted.”
However, leaked internal documents and investigations by journalists—including The Guardian and Forbidden Stories—have revealed otherwise.
Pegasus has been used by governments with poor human rights records, including:
- India
- Morocco
- Saudi Arabia
- Hungary
Many of the targets include:
- Journalists
- Opposition politicians
- Human rights activists
- Lawyers and academics
Surveillance Beyond Criminals: Targeting Journalists and Dissidents
A leak of over 50,000 phone numbers believed to be potential surveillance targets reveals widespread misuse of Pegasus.
For example:
- In Mexico, journalists investigating corruption were monitored.
- In Saudi Arabia, associates of Jamal Khashoggi (the murdered Washington Post journalist) were reportedly surveilled.
- In Hungary, independent journalists and opposition leaders were targeted.
In several cases, those targeted or their associates were later imprisoned or killed, raising questions about the software’s role in state repression.
Human Rights Violations and Authoritarian Regimes
According to Article 12 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to privacy and protection from arbitrary interference.
Pegasus spyware enables:
- Mass, unaccountable surveillance
- State violations of citizens’ rights without due process
- Suppression of dissent and democratic freedoms
The NSO Group may not be committing the direct violations, but it enables them through its technology and partnerships.
Corporate-Enabled State Crime Explained
This is a textbook case of corporate-enabled state crime, a concept where:
- A corporation provides tools or services (e.g., surveillance software)
- The state uses these tools to commit crimes (e.g., human rights violations)
Sociologists such as Tombs and Whyte argue that corporations and states often work together in ways that blur legality and morality. Here, NSO facilitates illegal state practices, while hiding behind legalistic claims of “vetting.”
📌 The victims are not just terrorists but ordinary citizens, activists, and journalists.
Sociological Analysis: Surveillance, Power, and Control
This scandal is relevant to key sociological debates around:
- State crime: Illegal or immoral acts committed by governments
- Surveillance culture: The idea that modern societies rely increasingly on watching citizens
- Moral panics and control: The justification of intrusive surveillance through fear of terrorism
Compare this with Michel Foucault’s concept of the Panopticon—a model of social control where people regulate their own behavior under the assumption they are always being watched.
Also relevant is David Lyon’s concept of the “Surveillance Society”, where digital monitoring is embedded in everyday life, often without consent.
Relevance to A-Level Sociology
This case study supports learning in:
- Crime and Deviance: State crime, globalisation and crime, corporate crime
- Media: Surveillance, moral panics, the role of media in exposing abuse
- Theory: Marxism (state-corporate collusion), Postmodernism (hyper-surveillance), and Interactionism (labelling dissidents as threats)
🔗 Related content within Crime and Deviance