Govt denies buying Pegasus spyware, wants WhatsApp to restore security wall; says 'breach won't be tolerated'

New Delhi: The government of India on Wednesday vehemently denied charges that it had purchased Pegasus - the Israeli spyware that is at the centre of a snooping scandal. A parliamentary standing committee meeting was held in the national capital to examine the alleged snooping issue involving social media messaging giant WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, following a massive debate over data privacy in wake of the Pegasus spyware controversy that surfaced earlier this month.

The committee, headed by senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, met to discuss the matter. The Winter Session of the Parliament is underway right now.

As per a notice issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat, the parliamentary panel is being briefed by representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs and Department of Atomic Energy on ‘Citizens’ data security and privacy’.

When asked in the Lok Sabha whether the government has taken cognisance of reports of alleged use and purchase of Pegasus by Indian government agencies, Union Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Some statements regarding this have appeared based on media reports. These attempts to malign the government for reported breach are misleading. The government is committed to protecting the fundamental rights of citizens, including the Right to Privacy. The government operates strictly as per the provisions of law and laid-down protocols. There are adequate provisions in the IT Act, 2000, to deal with hacking, spyware, etc.”

“On September 5, WhatsApp stated that while the full extent of the attack may never be known, they continued to review the available information. WhatsApp believes it is likely that devices of approximately of 121 users in India may have been attempted to be reached,” Prasad said whether the government had received prior intimation in this regard from social media owners like WhatsApp and Facebook.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has written to the Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) after it was issued a notice and said that while it regrets the breach, they need “more engagement with the government”, with an assurance of all security measures.

CERT-In is the nodal agency of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology that deals with cybersecurity threats.

“The government expects WhatsApp to reinforce its security wall and anymore breach in WhatsApp will not be tolerated. WhatsApp has told the government that they need more engagement and has assured of all security measures. The government is committed to security and safety of its citizens,” government sources said.

CERT-In is currently examining the issue and WhatsApp’s response.

Tharoor had earlier written to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology stating that the alleged usage of technology for snooping on Indians was an issue of “grave concern”.

WhatsApp had earlier this month revealed that Indian journalists and certain human rights activists were among the 1400 people across the world who were spied on by unverified organisations using an Israeli spyware ‘Pegasus’.