The question became imperative after the Spanish Government announced that the mobile phones of Pedro Sánchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles were hacked with the Pegasus system between May and June of last year. These devices. “What if it happened here too?”. This is one of the questions Generalitat Valenciana wants to address and for which it has launched an internal audit.
General Directorate of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Will analyze mobile devices of Valencian Executive’s high positions To detect if the Pegasus system has infected any of the Consell members’ official phones, and therefore whether any of them have been subjected to some form of espionage from theft of private documents or access to conversations, compared to nothing. warnings were received, but you want to verify for security.
As José Manuel García Duarte, head of this general directorate of the Ministry of Finance, explains, a special team is being prepared at the ministry to carry out this analysis “in the less intrusive way possible” and make it “available”. The top officials of the Valencian Government they want. The aim is to ensure that Pegasus’ tentacles do not reach the mobile phones of regional leaders, nor do they violate the privacy of those who request it.
No specific tool
pegasus Software designed by an Israeli company and, according to it, only available to governments, and with it their secret services. This system provides access to information stored on the device for both immediate viewing and later downloading, as in the cases of Sánchez and Robles, in the event that a phone is successful in infecting it. Downloaded documents can range from photos to instant messaging conversations.
But according to García Duarte, this system and its attacks are not a cybersecurity issue, but a form of mobile espionage that uses a tool normally owned only by certain governments, security agencies and secret services. They are not the usual computer attacks of so-called hackers or hackers.. In fact, the general manager argues that there is no risk situation on the mobile phones of senior regional officials at the moment, and that if they did, they would contact people who could be harmed.
This The difference between cyber attack and Pegasus While detecting spyware is more complex, cyber attacks can be prevented. The Autonomous Administration does not have its own tools for this monitoring, but only from forensic analysis of the phone when there is a suspicion of an infection coming through a link that spoofs a news item or notification. This “forensic analysis” is the analysis prepared by the Generalitat, which aims to confirm that Pegasus’ tentacles did not reach the mobile phones of the highest Valencian officials.
“Increasing security filters reduces efficiency, but it’s worth it”
Duarte insists that the Pegasus incidents are not cybersecurity issues, but it does affect their importance and the strengthening of their safeguards. “It came to stay,” the head of ICT at Consell explains, agreeing that “it is difficult to enable them because increasing security filters reduces usability.” “But it’s worth it,” she insists.
Managing director emphasizes Generalitat will expand identification factor
Computer attacks have increased in recent months, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sindicatura de Comptes has already warned of this in its 2020 report, assuring that the Generalitat stopped more than 1,600 attacks during that year.
“Digital transformation must be inextricably linked with cybersecurity,” the supervisory body’s report said. “This is something that has happened around the world, and especially since Putin’s war began,” says Duarte, who is confident that all data reaching the autonomous computer hardware is analysed.
Duarte from the General Directorate of Information Technologies and Communications believes that the European funds will increase the possibility of working on business computers from mobile devices, this also includes a double identification factor, i.e. the password, but also confirms access to the mobile phone via an SMS.
Source: Informacion
