Media: Pavel Durov was among potential Pegasus spyware targets

The phone number of Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram messenger, appeared in a list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware by the Israeli NSO Group, The Guardian reports.

Durov’s phone was added to the database in early 2018. It was a British mobile number linked to his personal Telegram account for many years, journalists found.

Media speculated that Durov may have attracted the attention of UAE authorities — his number begins to appear in the list around the same time he relocated his official residence to that country.

Whether there was an attempt to install malware on Durov’s device cannot be stated with certainty without a proper expert examination, the publication notes.

NSO Group did not respond directly to whether the Telegram founder’s phone was a Pegasus target. The company described the assertion that the name on the list is necessarily linked to the use of spyware as “incorrect and false.”

Neither Durov nor Telegram’s press office responded to requests for comments.

Earlier, a joint media investigation disclosed the the use of Pegasus for surveillance of human rights defenders, journalists and politicians worldwide through hacking iPhone and Android.

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