Centre buying Pegasus-type ‘snooping’ spyware ‘Cognyte’: Congress

The Congress on Monday said the Union government is trying to buy a Pegasus-type spying software called ‘Cognyte’ at a cost of ₹986 crore, and alleged that it will be used to snoop on politicians, media, activists, and NGOs.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera at a press conference on Monday said, “Since Pegasus has become infamous, the government with ‘minimum governance-maximum surveillance’ is looking for a new spyware in the market.”

“I understand that the ruling dispensation hates the opposition but they used spying software on their own ministers,” Khera alleged.

He added, “This country’s ‘2 spies’ do not trust anyone, not even the law and media. That’s why they are spending crores of taxpayers’ money for buying spy software and Israeli technology. They are doing this because the emperor fears that his hollow palace of lies might collapse from one of our truths.”

The Congress leader went on to allege that the government uses the technology to spy on the opposition, journalists, judiciary, citizens and even on its own ministers.

Khera also highlighted how not many people knew about Cognyte but it worked similar to Pegasus and was less discussed among the media. However, a US law firm stated that Cognyte “regularly targets journalists, opposition leaders and their families and uses unethical methods to furnish information about them,” adding, “the Norway Sovereign Wealth Fund had dumped Cognite’s stocks over irregularities.”

Posing questions before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government, Khera said, “We want to ask the government which ministry has been given the task to buy this Cognyte software and how much was spent on it. We also urge them to tell us on what rationale this software is being finalised about which very little information is known.

“Have some communication devices been purchased from Cognyte? If yes, which ministry bought it, and how much did it cost? Is there a new spyware idea to finalise? Has any ministry issued request for proposal? If yes, which ministry is it?” asked Khera.

Cognyte’s webpage states that the Israeli software is a “global leader in investigative analytics software that empowers governments and enterprises with Actionable Intelligence for a Safer World”.