Report: Dozens of El Salvador journalists, activists hacked

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN and FRANK BAJAK
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An internet watchdog says dozens of journalists and human rights defenders in El Salvador had their cellphones repeatedly hacked with sophisticated spyware over the past year and a half. The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab made the revelation Wednesday in a report on its latest findings about use of the Israeli firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The report said it had identified a Pegasus operator working almost exclusively in El Salvador in early 2020. While the researchers could not conclusively link the hacks to El Salvador’s government, the report says that “the strong country-specific focus of the infections suggests that this is very likely.”