US-based human rights and security research groups — Amnesty International, CitizenLab and SentinelOne — have claimed in a joint statement that they unearthed new evidence that links the Pune police to the hacking of e-mail accounts of rights activists Rona Wilson and Varavara Rao and Delhi University professor Hany Babu, all of whom were arrested in 2018 in the Bhima-Koregaon case, the Wired magazine reported. The researchers claim that the evidence used by the Pune police against the three accused in their terrorist charge trials is the same material that they had "planted" on the three arrestees' personal devices. Previously in June 2021, Massachusetts-based independent forensic investigators Arsenal Computing had established that an unidentified attacker used malicious software to infiltrate the two computers belonging to Rona Wilson and deposited dozens of files in hidden folders on the devices. Researchers at these three organizations have since linked the Pune police's methodology to a broader hacking operation that targeted hundreds of anti-government individuals around the world since 2013. These attacks have mostly been using phishing emails or corrupted social media messages to infect targeted computers with spyware. These state actors have also used smartphone hacking tools such as the infamous Pegasus sold by the Israeli hacking contractor NSO Group, the three groups are alleging. Why this matters: The Pegasus fiasco illustrates the urgent reform required and safeguards in the state's surveillance infrastructure to prevent infringement of privacy and fundamental rights, and also the country's democratic institutions. Reports show that Pegasus and NetWire…
