View: Official response to Pegasus must be clearer. Plus, system of authorising surveillance is flawed

That spyware was installed in mobile phones of some Indian citizens – those targeted included journalists, politicians, activists, ministers and even a Supreme Court judge – is not really disputable.

Reports on such surveillance are credible for multiple reasons. First, they are a part of an international collaborative investigation by Paris-based media non-profit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. Second, these findings have been vetted by 16 media entities from across the world. Finally, the technical analysis on smartphones that confirms the presence of the spyware and its methodology was undertaken by the reputed Citizen Lab, housed at the University of Toronto.