Reporters Without Borders (RSF) disclosed that two journalists in Togo had spyware on their phones that looked similar to the potent Pegasus surveillance tool used by the NSO group.
RSF reports that the journalists are accused of defaming a government minister and are currently on trial for it. Since 1963 the nation of West Africa has been ruled by the same repressive royal family.
RSF was unclear about the detected spyware, stating only that the "traces are typical of Pegasus." According to RSF, the Togo government employed Pegasus until at least 2021, and one of the two targeted journalists was exposed to a "major cyber-espionage operation throughout the first half of 2021.”
RSF reported that Loïc Lawson, publisher of Flambeau des Démocrates, had 23 spyware attacks on his phone from February to July 2021.
A second journalist, freelancer Anani Sossou, was targeted many months later, in October 2021.
RSF stated that its forensic service for journalists, Digital Security Lab, conducted months of investigation, and Amnesty International's Security Lab corroborated its findings in an independent analysis.
The organisation began probing the alleged phone tampering in December, roughly three weeks after the journalists were detained. Their arrest followed a complaint from Togo's minister of urban planning, housing, and land reform, who objected to their reporting disclosing the theft of approximately 600,000 Euros (nearly $650,000) in cash from his home.
According to RSF, the journalists were accused of undermining the minister's image and "inciting revolt" at a trial that began last month. While investigating the arrests, RSF stated in a press statement that it "discovered that [the journalists] had in fact been in the crosshairs of the Togolese authorities for a long time."
The findings mark the first verified incident of spyware being used against journalists in Togo. Pegasus spyware has frequently targeted journalists, human rights campaigners, and opposition party leaders around the world in recent years.
Researchers say the attack took place in February, shortly after the Russian government banned Timchenko's journal, Meduza, for being critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
