Several RA citizens received email from Apple that they were attacked by the Pegasus spyware

Чрезвычайный случай 11 Апрель, 2024 12:51

A number of Armenian citizens with iPhones received a letter from Apple that their devices were attacked, infected with the Pegasus spy program or an attempt was made to infect them, media expert, IT security specialist Samvel Martirosyan informs about this on his Facebook page.

Samvel Martirosyan advised citizens who received such letters from Apple to contact him, and also presented an article on what to do in such a case.

It should be noted that this is not the first time that Armenian citizens receive a letter with such content from Apple. NEWS.am Tech reported earlier that with the permission of Israel, Azerbaijan is using Pegasus as a cyber weapon against Armenia. One of the most famous and active users of this espionage program produced by the Israeli private company NSO Group is Azerbaijan. Within its own country alone, Azerbaijan has about 1,000 targets - opposition politicians, journalists and others - who are monitored through this program.

Pegasus is quite expensive, it is usually used to infect the phones of people who have important information or occupy important positions. Citing a 2016 price list, the New York Times reported that the program costs about $500,000, with NSO Group charging $650,000 to hack 10 iOS devices and as many as 10 Android devices. It costs $800,000 to intercept an additional 100 devices, $500,000 for 50 devices, $250,000 for 20 devices, and $150,000 for 10 devices.