The Royal Thai Police (RTP) have never used spyware in a security operations to surveil people or even violate their rights, Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen, a mouthpiece spokesman for the nationwide police, said yesterday.
He was responding to media reports that at least 30 political active supporters and workers in Thailand are hacked using the Israeli surveillance spyware Pegasus.
Security operations involving suspected criminal activities occurring overseas are always conducted in cooperation with the RTP’s international equivalent and other international safety agencies, he stated.
“The Royal Thai Law enforcement have never used any spyware to violate anyone’s rights as suggested in all those news reports plus rumours spread on social media. The RTP strictly follows laws and regulations, ” Pol Col Kissana said.
Pegasus goes to Israel-based NSO Group, which has been blacklisted from deals with US companies after a wave of revelations claiming its spyware had been used against tranquil dissidents and their associates around the world, according to media reports.
Now it is suspected of having been used in Thailand to target federal government opponents, following a revelation by some individual rights and internet monitoring groups.
Thai human rights group iLaw, Southeast Asian web watchdog Digital Achieve and Toronto-based Citizen Lab, have earlier revealed findings from their probe conducted following a mass alert through Apple in Nov informing thousands of apple iphone users, including within Thailand, that they were targets of a spyware and adware attack.
Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, secretary-general of the Progressive Movement, said he has been among the victims of the Pegasus spyware attack. He said he experienced up to 8 attempts to crack his iPhone employing this particular spyware.
When he or she received an email from Apple within November alerting him to the risk that he may be a target associated with state-sponsored attackers, he or she thought it was just junk mail. But later when he spoke with fellow political activists, they advised him they had every received similar warning emails, he stated.