Pegasus

How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy

By: Laurent Richard, Sandrine Rigaud, Rachel Maddow

Narrated by: Andrew Wehrlen, Rachel Maddow, Rachel Perry

Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Featuring an introduction written and narrated by Rachel Maddow, Pegasus: How a Spy in Our Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy is the story of the one of the most sophisticated and invasive surveillance weapons ever created, used by governments around the world

Pegasus is widely regarded as the most effective and sought-after cyber-surveillance system on the market. The system’s creator, the NSO Group, a private corporation headquartered in Israel, is not shy about proclaiming its ability to thwart terrorists and criminals. “Thousands of people in Europe owe their lives to hundreds of our company employees,” NSO’s cofounder declared in 2019. This bold assertion may be true, at least in part, but it’s by no means the whole story.

NSO’s Pegasus system has not been limited to catching bad guys. It’s also been used to spy on hundreds, and maybe thousands, of innocent people around the world: heads of state, diplomats, human rights defenders, political opponents, and journalists.

This spyware is as insidious as it is invasive, capable of infecting a private cell phone without alerting the owner, and of doing its work in the background, in silence, virtually undetectable. Pegasus can track a person’s daily movement in real time, gain control of the device’s microphones and cameras at will, and capture all videos, photos, emails, texts, and passwords—encrypted or not. This data can be exfiltrated, stored on outside servers, and then leveraged to blackmail, intimidate, and silence the victims. Its full reach is not yet known. “If they’ve found a way to hack one iPhone,” says Edward Snowden, “they’ve found a way to hack all iPhones.”

Pegasus is a look inside the monthslong worldwide investigation, triggered by a single spectacular leak of data, and a look at how an international consortium of reporters and editors revealed that cyber intrusion and cyber surveillance are happening with exponentially increasing frequency across the globe, at a scale that astounds.

Meticulously reported and masterfully written, Pegasus shines a light on the lives that have been turned upside down by this unprecedented threat and exposes the chilling new ways authoritarian regimes are eroding key pillars of democracy: privacy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

©2022 Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Pegasus is an alarming and urgent book—an engrossing thriller about cybersurveillance software so sly and powerful that it can take over your cell phone without your knowledge. This is terrifying stuff. Richard and Rigaud reveal how authoritarian regimes can use Pegasus software to spy on dissidents, human rights activists, journalists—and virtually anyone with a mobile phone.”
—David Zucchino, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Wilmington’s Lie

“Paced like a thriller, Pegasus reveals a manifested dystopia where repressive governments purchase digital bolt-cutters to break into the phones of their critics and adversaries. But it also details the power of investigative journalists to expose a 21st-century arms market whose wares are aimed at civil society.”
—Spencer Ackerman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Reign of Terror

Incredibile story

An extremely important investigation, very well written and read. A must read for every one

Overwhelming Investing Drama.

when Rachel Maddow revealed the news of Pegasus on the news I order this audiobook I do not know why I haven't hear of this till now, but I am thankful that brave reporters took on this monumental project. Nobody can really feel safe because that techology is loose and it will mutate and develop then what?

Great Listen

Amazing feat of courage for the reporter authors. They are hero’s in the fight for freedom of speech.

Pegasus

My computer literacy is so small but I realize what a magnificent amount and quality of work performed by all the people involved in the production of this investigation. It is scary to consider my phone could be so infected but I am so far removed from any subject included in this book that I don’t think it is. If it is the person doing the surveillance will due of boredom.

This is what courage looks like!

I hats off to his young amazing journalists. In the mid-2000s I dated a rocket scientist, who worked for aerospace… And I would say, as bad as you think it is… It’s 100 times worse. He was right!

Scary

I’m glad that I read the book but it’s frightening. Well researched investigative reporting. Thank you to all the reporters putting their lives in the line to tell the truth and keep truth alive.

Cyber War!

What an incredible story of intrigue and danger! The risks of reporting this story by the people involved deserve our deepest respect.

Excellent!

What a book! It reveals how authoritarian governments are exploiting cyber surveillance tools to intimidate and get rid if political opposition.

What Little We Know But They Know

This book exposes the nefarious spying that is being fomented by people who think they are safeguarding society. Paranoia has driven software developers to design programs that can extract data from unsuspecting targets with a level of stealth that is very hard to detect. Then the spies will use it to punish the so-called enemies of the state with imprisonment or death. We need to be more vigiliant.

Best non-fiction book I have read in a long while

Excellent and terrifying at the same time;suffice it to say I have read/listened to it on my iPhone!The Genie is out of the bottle and not returning to it any time soon; trying to revert to a more ‘carefree’ state is like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube after having squeezed it out. Better than fiction 1984 was just the beginning; Happy New Cyber Year to all!