MEXICO CITY (AP) — The widow of a renowned Mexican journalist murdered two years ago was the target of an attempted spyware attack 10 days after his death, an internet watchdog group reported Wednesday.
The Toronto-based Citizen Lab said the attempt to place Pegasus spy software targeted Griselda Triana, the widow of Javier Valdez, bringing to 25 the number of known cases involving the spyware in Mexico — including two of Valdez's colleagues at the Riodoce weekly in the northern state of Sinaloa.
The other two attempted hacks took place the day after Valdez's killing on May 15, 2017, and it remains unclear who carried them out or for what purpose.
Pegasus allows for monitoring of devices and their content, including the remote activation of cameras and microphones without users' knowledge.
In Triana's case, she reportedly received a text message that mentioned a possible theory of her husband's murder.
Israeli company NSO has said it sells the software only to governments for use combatting crime and terrorism.
But in 2017, Citizen Lab made public the results of an investigation that found that some of Mexico's most prominent journalists had been targeted by the spyware.
The watchdog has also reported Pegasus being used to target human rights activists, politicians, researchers and in one case a minor.
"We can add Griselda's name to the growing list of family members of cartel-linked killings, and their advocates, who demanded justice and got targeted with Pegasus instead," said John Scott-Railton, one of the report's authors.
The government of Mexican ex-President Enrique Pena Nieto denied any illegal use of the program, and though it announced an investigation, it remains unknown who targeted the people in Mexico.