# Pegasus spyware > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Pegasus spyware," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pegasus-spyware/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *Israeli-developed phone-interception software that requires no action by the target — no link clicked, no message answered — and gives its operator the contents of the device along with live use of its camera and microphone. John Kiriakou describes it as having escaped state control: sold on commercially, routed through an American contractor and then directly by the Israelis, used against Americans, and implicated in a Greek interception scandal that he says brought down a government.* - **Origin:** Developed in Israel - **Activation:** Zero-click — no link, button or reply required - **Access granted:** Device contents, camera and microphone, at will - **Routes of supply:** First through an American contractor, later direct from the Israelis - **Scandals Kiriakou names:** Greece and the United Arab Emirates - **Kiriakou''s estimate:** 'More sophisticated and more broadly spread than what we know right now' **Pegasus** is phone-interception software developed in Israel. In [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s description its defining property is that the target does nothing: *"You don't have to take any action to activate it on your phone. You don't have to click a link. You don't have to respond to a text message or anything like that. It just works, just like that. And you have no idea."*[1] ## Where it has surfaced Kiriakou points to *"the scandals that have already come to light in places like Greece or the United Arab Emirates, where Israeli software — Pegasus software specifically — has been used, first through an American contractor and then through the Israelis directly, where it's being used against Americans."* The Greek case he recalls as an interception of a national sports team, and he says its consequence was constitutional rather than merely criminal: *"it literally brought down the Greek government."*[2] His assessment of the present spread is deliberately unbounded: *"I think it's more sophisticated and more broadly spread than what we know right now."* The comparison he draws is to signals collection inside the United States — *"we wouldn't have known that similar software programs were being used by NSA against American citizens"* but for [Edward Snowden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/edward-snowden) — with the difference that Pegasus and its analogues are available on the commercial market. *"I mean, how do you protect yourself?"*[1][3] ## Whether anything is secure Asked whether any messaging application was genuinely private, Kiriakou says he wanted to give an informed answer and so telephoned [Tom Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake), the [National Security Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/national-security-agency) whistleblower. *"He said no. The easy answer is no. Nothing's secure."* The reasoning Drake gave him concerns the moment of encryption rather than its strength: *"even if it's not true that the US intelligence community has a backdoor into Signal, Signal is only encrypted when you hit the send button. That's when it encrypts. They can intercept your message as you're typing it, before you hit send."* Kiriakou draws the conclusion out: *"it doesn't matter if they can't break the encryption."*[3][4] Asked flatly whether privacy still exists, his answer was *"there's no such thing."*[5] ## See also - [Thomas Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake) - [NSA Surveillance](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/nsa-surveillance) - [Mass Surveillance](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mass-surveillance) - [Government encryption back-door demands](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/encryption-backdoor-demands) - [MOSSAD](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mossad) ## Sources 1. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 29:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1755s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ 2. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 27:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1633s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ 3. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 29:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1787s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ 4. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 30:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1820s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ 5. One America News Network (2026-02-27), at 32:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulc3YGqjKvk&t=1944s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-27-one-america-news-network-one-america-news-network/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pegasus-spyware/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt