>> NARRATOR: On October 2nd, 2018, journalist Jamal Khashoggi
walked into the Saudi consulate in Turkey and never came back
out.
Around the time of his murder, a powerful spyware may have been
used to surveil his family.
>> Activists, journalists...
All are said to have been hacked by spyware developed by the
Israeli company called the NSO Group.
>> NARRATOR: A consortium of news outlets from around the
world - including FRONTLINE - have been investigating the use
of the spyware called Pegasus, and the Israeli company -
NSO Group - that sells it to foreign governments.
>> And the government can see anything on the phone, including
pictures, contracts, listening into calls...
>> NARRATOR: As part of the investigation, into Pegasus,
Washington Post reporter, Dana Priest, traveled to Istanbul.
Working with the journalism non-profit, Forbidden Stories,
the reporters were given access to 50,000 phone numbers
concentrated in countries known to be NSO clients.
They included journalists, politicians, human rights
activists - and Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice
Cengiz.
Dana Priest and a producer working for FRONTLINE and
Forbidden Stories met with Hatice to verify if her phone
had in fact been hacked.
>> What I'm doing is basically a
backup and based on this backup - we will look if there is any
trace of infection, past or current.
What we are looking for is traces of a software called
Pegasus.
>> Um, I remember first days after the murder.
A lot of times, they tried to hack my email.
>> Hmm.
>> And then Gmail was sending to me emails at the time:
“Someone tried to open your account,”
or something like that.
>> The simple ones are
like that message.
>> Uh huh.
>>The really sophisticated ones?
>> Uh huh.
>> They don't' need a message.
They don't need you to do anything.
>> Really?
>> Yeah.
>> But why are people saying the
iPhone, the more safe to - no one can hack, or...
>> That's what iPhone says, the company.
>> Oh, okay.
>> That's not true.
So, the Pegasus software can - if it gets inside.
I don't know if it gets inside every time, it tries.
But if it gets inside, it can turn your microphone on,
so that it can - whoever is doing it - can listen to what
you're saying, and what other people are saying.
But it also can go into your email, your WhatsApp,
your contacts, your pictures, your videos.
And it can just steal them all, make a copy of everything.
And then, you know, our thought is if it's doing that against
people like you, who are not terrorist or criminals, then
why?
Part of what we want to show, what we think we know, what
we're discovering, and what we're researching is, no - they
use it against civilians.
And why would they want to know what you are doing?
>> Yes.
It's my personal life, it's my sacred life.
>> Mhm.
>> It is not enough to say, “Please stop after this murder”"
Please - it is, it's horror.
>>NARRATOR: After getting backups of both Hatice's new
phone and the one she was using at the time of Khashoggi's
murder, Dana Priest sent them to Amnesty International's Security
Lab for analysis.
A few hours later, while on the way back to the airport,
she received a call with the results.
>> Hi, I guess uh, the, the spree of bad news
is never ending.
>> Hm.
>> So, I checked both the uploads.
The new one seems clean to me.
The old one however has some traces that seem consistent with
what we've seen.
>> Oh.
>> So, on the 6th of October 2018, seems to have been a first
comprised, which was followed by some additional traces on
the 9th and then on the 12th.
Which is obviously as you know pretty timely, within the
context obviously.
>> Yeah. Wow.
She's already been infected so it's already happened, so
it's great that you're finding it.
>>NARRATOR: There was now proof that Pegasus had been used
to target one of the people closest to Jamal Khashoggi
around the time of his death.
In a statement, NSO Group said its technology was not
associated in any way with Khashoggi's murder.
The company said it's on a “life-saving mission” -
preventing terror attacks and serious crimes.
But in addition to Hatice, FRONTLINE, Forbidden Stories
and the partner news outlets are investigating the cases of
of journalists, human rights activists, politicians and
others in more than 50 countries, who may have been
targeted for surveillance.