Funny how many illegal things can be made legal so easily by these companies and Governments just by putting "Crime" & "terrorism" in the sentence. Fighting crimes by doing crime is the norm now eh?

We really need phones with hard switch, which disconnects camera and microphone. Phone's usually don't even have indicator when microphone and camera are in use. (although new version of android and ios has indication on screen, which i bet can be bypassed with another zero day in future)

Just because we're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get us.

Nothing electronic is secure. I even have doubts about my toaster and I unplug it when not in use.

8:07 I like how our "hacker" is "typing" and the screen says press any key to continue.

I work as an Advanced SOC analyst and this is the best explanation that I’ve heard.

5:10. Gary explains zero day bugs and a fly zooms by in front of his face. Well played Sir.

These exploits being used are not accidents, that is the real crime. Your encryption required by the govt has flaws they use against you also.

I find it sad that a symbol who represent freedom like the pegasus is used to curtail freedoms, it shows how much things are twisted and wrong with the world today.

In the early days of your channel, I challenged the accuracy of an argument you made with ignorant, adolescent, hubris in the comment section. You responded with clarifying information and honest questioning into my concerns. While I'm by no means advocating for the increase of your interactions with the unwashed masses, I've been subscribed for years now and wanted express my gratitude. Not only for what you do, but for how you do it. Earnest authenticity is, unfortunately, a rare commodity in this world.

The government would never misuse its power and authority to abuse its citizens... 🤣 I couldn't even write that with a serious expression on my face.

It is not just about iOS or Android. Even SIMs have processors in them, albeit not as sophisticated as the ones running your smart-phone, but the SIMs themselves can be infected. Then you have issues with the SS7 protocol that can have your phone hijacked at the network level.

This is almost like the bit in the Dark Knight where Lucius Fox turns every mobile device in Gotham City into one big sonar device to find Joker.

India is one of the countries named in the report and the targets are indeed activists , and numerous journalists working for national newspapers and a few politicians as well.

You are being watched. Actually, one of the ways to stop stuff like this is to cut out its means to communicate. It can still record, or log, but if there's a way to prevent it from communicating, then they'll not succeed. On a different note, thanks for the including the POI clip. It's my favorite series of all time.

Excellent and very clear explanation of complex infomration here Gary, thanks so much for such an illuminating and useful piece.

You could also get a phone where you can disconnect the camera, microphone, wifi module and GPS module from the circuit, turning them off completely.

So basically when they showed in Fast and Furious 8 that the lady could monitor or use any device remotely they weren't totally making stuff up.

The dystopian future is now.

When Gary releases video about a hot topic, usually it’s all I need to know about it

05:07 fly passes by when talking about bugs

Damn, that’s crazy! _downloads suspicious mirror of Angry Birds on iOS 6_

Thanks for doing this Gary, this is very important...

that last bit was the most important part of the conversation.

Thank you, Gary. That was so informative.

I can name at least a few of governments who do this as a life style!

Thank you so much for this upload😍🙂takecare and stay safe Gary🙂

I respect your works young man. Wish you more years of hardware exploration 💯💗

Unfortunately in the future this problem will only get worst. Thanks for the information Gary.

Just realised that your background image is the CBD of Singapore. :)

Thanks for another great video. Regarding your advice to always update to the latest version of your OS. Do you think that goes for the first version of a major new release as well? Like the upcoming iOS 15, for example. Apple has a tendency to release a first update fairly soon after a major release to fix the most severe bugs etc. Do you think that I, strictly from a security perspective, should install the major new release immediately, or wait for the first update? Do major new releases suffer enough bugs to tip the scales?

A superb and much appreciated explaination, Thanks!

Why worry about Pegasus when people openly invite Amazon, Alexa and own IPhones and give out private info to social media sites.

This is about the best advice. There is no such thing as complete privacy with digital technologies. If you are paranoid, ditch mobile phone.

Thanks for making this video Gary!

Good explanation about malware, and Pegasus. Thanks!

5:06 or a bug that you know about because it flies in front of your face while you're talking about technical bugs ???

Doing God's work, Gary. Thanks for the explainer, very informative!

Very informative video! Scary but at least your giving us tips on how to deal with those stuff. Thank you from Canada. :)

Very well explained sir . Thanks !

I just turn off my phone. Guess can't guarantee the phone is really off. I'll just take out my battery. Oops!, can't remove batteries any more.

I'm surprised we've not heard about governments going through the baseband processor. That has always been one of the big treads, even for mobile phones who aren't smartphones.

Very interesting, thanks for the info!

One my favorite tech channel with a clip of one my favorite shows👍

Edward Snowden also said, 6 or 7 years ago, that we could ALREADY be surveilled through our phones (possibly just iphones then?). He seemed to know this through working for a contractor for the NSA.

*GARY!!!* *Good Afternoon Professor!* *Good Afternoon Fellow Classmates!* Stay safe out there everyone!

I consider you a friend after watching this. Thanks Gary. Nice one mate.

Very informative Gary, it'll be helpful if you link any video on your channel that's related to the subject of the current video.

Hi Gary, I found this video a bit basic! Is there a way to protect oneself from zero-click exploits? Would one just have to avoid taking unrecognised calls?

That "hacker" sure was typing slowly. Lol

Very good informative & explanatory video... Loved it

12:50 - This series is "Person of Interest". An absolutely must watch series. You wouldn't know what you were missing until you see this one.

Joke's on them, my phone is two tin cans with a length of string

Great coverage Gary. I can't wait until Linux phones are usable. Phones with a fully open source stack are the only chance we have got against this (short of using a feature phone, or no phone at all :-P). I have a PinePhone, it has some pretty cool features, but also not quite usable. I wonder what you think is the timescale for a usable Linux phone, maybe a video at some point? Would be interesting :-)

I loved the video Gary. A bit of tape will prevent the camera from working. Reminds me of the days when I used a Motorola "brick" phone. BTW, I really like the music that started at around 41 seconds into the video, what is it?

It would be incredibly interesting to see what the program looks like for the user and to have an analysis of the source code although this is very unlikely. I have no idea how these sorts of things operate on a fundamental level

10:48 and don't think a vm could protect against such things if it can hyperjack

I've never thought about a decentralised world this hard before. Holy shhhh

Great Video Gary. Is there any way to know if an old phone is infected with this spyware? Any anti virus application would help?

Thanks for such a solid review.

I have an advice for iOS user. Check for updates regularly. Android users can chill for now as if there is a security flaw or critical security and google has a patch it pushes to devices running android 5.0 through Play services so that non techy people are secure too without even knowing about it.

5:08 speaking of bugs... 😂 (One casually flies by the screen)

Thanks Gary for the interesting information.

Thank you so much for these informations 👍☺️😊

The name of this software fits. The guy that named it is as creative as the one who developed it

Good thing my Nokia 3310 is immune to this plus I can use this as a weapon

was just waiting for your video 😊

Thanks for the info. Another good vid.

Its not new, some 30 years ago the "infinity device" was doing the same with landlines. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_transmitter

That is creepy malware.

Thanks for the video.

Love the POI reference 👍

There have been VERY few attack vectors that simply required clicking a link. It most cases, clicking a link is fine because even if the link starts an auto download, you would still have to actually click on the downloaded item and run it for the attack to work. Downloaded files do not automatically execute.

Everyone living in Communist China, just the marketing and branding is different.

8:26 love the disclaimer :D

really liked the music at end

Don't forget kids you always have the option of leaving the phone at another location. 🤣

Profiting from bugs without reporting them to the software developers? The NSO group should be convicted as criminals. This is what others go to jail for.

Thanks, Gary.

I hope future phone cameras will have physical camera cover and may be a led indicator hardwired with the mics so that when a mic is on the led can indicate. Not very convenient but may be not a bad idea.

I was under the assumption that ALL digital traffic was stored on the super computers in Utah anyway. I guess Pegasus just helped rip off data that wouldn't be sent to Utah automatically. So now that people are making UKposts videos about pegasus the NSO group most likely has Peg 2 nearly ready to go.

But when Batman does it's alright.

This was amazing Gary

Thank you so much

I use sensors disable option in developer menu, this forbids access to camera, mic, location(I hope), but probably a malware has access (as google has) above all restrictions. Tested with Facebook and instagram access to a camera crashes the app.

"there has never been a conspiracy in this country"

Pegasus us just one of many. Surveillance is everywhere. My last two employers made us wear pins and communication devices that would track our location at the work place and even sound. The important thing now is not whether they are doing this or whether they should but rather how can we protect ourselves against this.

Brilliant insight 👍👍

Master tip: change your govt by making people aware of these things

how did "The guardian" find out who was under surveillance ? cause if such surveillance is happening then its a rookie mistake to leave evidence of it?

Fascinating.

I'm certainly aware of bugs in software and zero day exploits. A place I worked at had an app which was required by employees to have installed on their phone. Strangely enough; once installed, I noticed some things happening to my phone (torch turning on by itself for one ). One day I also noticed my internet banking app was now on its logon screen when I unlocked the phone. I uninstalled the app but got in trouble by someone at work who reckons its not bad software and was told to install it again. I told her that it has issues and the phone is "playing up" with the software installed. She (he/they/them / however it identifies) wouldn't accept this. It had no idea what it was talking about and certainly wasn't an IT person. I ended up buying a 2nd phone (cheaper smart phone) and installed it on there instead. Surprisingly , that phone started doing weird things (torch coming on). I don't have internet banking or anything personal in that phone though. Just a few photos , some music and games. I don't worry about installing stuff really anymore as I know the phone now has issues. Unfortunately my good phone got left in the car on a warm day (hard to carry 2 phones) which destroyed the screen. It is now a paperweight . This means no more internet banking, pay by tapping phone, etc Ps Even with a dumb phone, the government can track you anyway by triangulation through your network. The police also have this capability (without a warrant here)

I wonder if any among the compromised devices listed in the leak runs Linux, and how safe are Linux phones in general. Since some of the targeted individuals are serious journalists doing an essential job, it is important they continue to have access to secure devices, maybe a secondary device running Linux could be a good tool if they prove to be safer.

I'm more concerned with those hacks destroying my battery life.

Thx great vid for those who are security minded. Question, I am aware of undsoliceted links but can't avoid cookie acceptance clicks. Could cookie clicks be used to download malware?

Would wiping your phone clean and re-installing from scratch with newer code be a fix ? Alternatively, obscurity tactics by not using a smart phone , using a flip phone be a means of protection?

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. - Benjamin Franklin

The great conspiracy for absolute power - these control freaks have all gone bonkers!

Thank you 👍

Thanks Gary!