Pegasus spyware used in ‘jaw-dropping’ phone hacks on El Salvador journalists

Citizen Lab finds that hacking of 35 journalists and civil society activists coincided with their investigations into allegations that President Nayib Bukele was negotiating a pact with gangs

Dozens of journalists and human rights defenders in El Salvador have been subjected to “jaw-dropping” phone hacks using the Pegasus spyware allegedly deployed by governments around the world against dissidents, reporters, diplomats and members of the clergy, according to internet security researchers.

Reporting on its latest findings about the use of the Israeli firm NSO Group’s spyware, the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said it had identified a Pegasus operator working almost exclusively in El Salvador in early 2020.