NSO Group—Pegasus deployed against 22 staff members of El Salvadoran news outlet El Faro and journalists at 13 other outlets
In January 2022, Citizen Lab and Access Now revealed that 22 employees of El Faro, a prominent Salvadoran independent news outlet, had their phones infiltrated with Pegasus between July 2020 and November 2021. The investigation found that journalists from 13 other Salvadoran news organizations were also targeted. El Faro is known for its investigative reporting on government corruption and gang negotiations in El Salvador.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press Freedom | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Surveillance Technology | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.885 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Citizen Lab and Access Now confirmed Pegasus infections on 22 El Faro staff phones
In January 2022, Citizen Lab and Access Now published findings confirming that 22 employees of El Faro, including reporters and editors, had their phones infiltrated by Pegasus between July 2020 and November 2021. Journalists at 13 additional Salvadoran news organizations were also identified as targets.