Colombian President Gustavo Petro has launched a government initiative allowing citizens to detect the presence of Pegasus spyware on their mobile devices.
The announcement, made on Monday, urges the public—especially young people connected to youth leaders who were killed or went missing during the 2021 national strike—to utilize the new detection service. Petro wrote on social media, “Anyone who suspects their phone has been illegally infected should consult this page or use the government tool we are providing.”
The president previously disclosed that police purchased the Israeli surveillance software for $11 million through two cash payments. He also alleged that multiple senior judges, and even himself, had been illegally surveilled without any formal judicial inquiry taking place.
“The cash flow from Bogotá was declared at Israeli customs and deposited into the account of the company owning Pegasus on June 30, 2021. The remaining payment was completed via a foreign exchange transaction on September 22, 2021,” Petro wrote.
Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office confirmed last week it had opened a judicial investigation to determine how the spyware was acquired and where the funds originated.
Though Petro remains uncertain about the total number of wiretapped individuals or the specific reasons behind the surveillance, he stated the software was purchased to monitor phones during the 2021 social uprising and leading up to the 2022 presidential campaigns, in which he was eventually elected.
The 2021 protests erupted over an unpopular tax reform, fueled further by police violence and economic inequality worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Official reports estimate more than 60 deaths during the unrest, mostly among civilians.
Pegasus, developed by the Israeli cyber-surveillance firm NSO Group, is capable of monitoring phone calls, text conversations, and remotely activating cameras or microphones on targeted devices. The previous year, investigative reports highlighted how the spyware was used to track thousands of activists and journalists globally.