The gripping, behind-the scenes story of one of the most sophisticated surveillance weapons ever created, which is threatening democracy and human rights.

Pegasus is widely regarded as the most powerful cyber-surveillance system on the market – available to any government that can afford its multimillion-dollar price tag. The system’s creator, the NSO group, a private corporation headquartered in Israel, boasts about its ability to thwart terrorists and criminals: ‘Thousands of people in Europe owe their lives to hundreds of our company employees’, they declared in 2019. That may be true – but the Pegasus system doesn’t just catch bad guys.

Pegasus has been used by repressive regimes to spy on thousands of innocent people around the world: heads of state, diplomats, human rights defenders, lawyers, political opponents, and journalists. Virtually undetectable, the system 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. Its full reach is not even known.

This is the gripping story of how Pegasus was uncovered, written by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud, the two intrepid reporters who revealed the scandal in collaboration with an international consortium of journalists. They received a leaked list of 50,000 mobile phone numbers, but they needed to prove NSO’s involvement. After a dangerous and secretive investigation spanning the globe, their findings shook the world. Tense and compelling, Pegasus reveals how thousands of lives have been turned upside down by this unprecedented threat, and exposes the chilling new ways governments and corporations are laying waste to human rights – and silencing innocent citizens.

The gripping, behind-the scenes story of one of the most sophisticated surveillance weapons ever created – and an existential threat to democracy and human rights.

Pegasus is widely regarded as the most powerful cyber-surveillance system on the market – available to any government that can afford its multimillion-dollar price tag. The system’s creator, the NSO group, a private corporation headquartered in Israel, boasts about its ability to thwart terrorists and criminals.

But the Pegasus system doesn’t only catch terrorists and criminals.

Pegasus has been used by repressive regimes to spy on thousands of innocent people around the world: heads of state, diplomats, human rights defenders, lawyers, political opponents, and journalists.

Virtually undetectable, the system 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. Its full reach is not even known.

This is the gripping story of how Pegasus was uncovered, written by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud, the two intrepid reporters who revealed the scandal in collaboration with an international consortium of journalists. Their findings shook the world.

Tense and compelling, Pegasus reveals how thousands of lives have been turned upside down by this unprecedented threat, and exposes the chilling new ways governments and corporations are laying waste to human rights – and silencing innocent citizens.

Pegasus is almost certainly the most powerful piece of spyware ever developed. Installed by as little as a missed WhatsApp call, once on your phone it can record your calls, copy your messages, steal your photos and secretly film you. Those that control it can find out your daily movements: exactly where you've been, and who you've met. From a wayward princess who married into the royal family of Dubai, to the president of one of the most powerful and long-standing Republics in Europe and a reporter investigating arms deals being negotiated by the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Trump administration. These three individuals and many more have been targeted by Pegasus - with sometimes deadly consequences. The personal data of the victims is captured by their own governments, foreign governments and even by private criminal enterprises. They have become, in an instant, vulnerable to blackmail, intimidation, false imprisonment and assassination. Some have already suffered these fates. Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud are award-winning journalists who have conducted international investigations for more than twenty years. Pegasus investigates how people's lives and privacy are being threatened as cyber-surveillance occurs with exponentially increasing frequency across the world, at a sweep and scale that astounds - and horrifies.