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UAE Agents Put Spyware on Phone of Jamal Khashoggi’s Wife Before Assassination

The spyware can monitor all call records, track location, and control the microphone.

A new forensics examination has revealed that Jamal Khashoggi’s wife had “military-grade spyware” operating on her phone prior to the Saudi journalist’s murder, per The Washington Post. The investigation indicated that UAE agents had taken steps to install the spyware, known as Pegasus, on her phone while she was engaged to the targeted journalist. Hanan Elatr says that in April 2018 she was kidnapped, blindfolded, and interrogated by security agents, and that was when her two Android phones were compromised. A forensics analysis revealed that the process to send Pegasus to her phone only took 72 seconds. The invasive spyware was created by an Israeli firm, NSO Group, to purportedly trace terrorists. Once downloaded, the spyware can monitor all call records, track location, and save contacts, as well as activate the camera and microphone of the infected phone. “We found the smoking gun on her phone,” said cybersecurity expert Bill Marczak, who examined the phones.