Watched, Tracked, Hacked! IFJ Study Finds Global Systemic Surveillance of Journalists

New Delhi: An investigative study by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organisation of journalists, has exposed how journalists across the globe are subject to a systemic infrastructure of control through increasingly sophisticated digital surveillance technologies.

The study, Global Surveillance of Journalists: A Technical Mapping of Tools, Tactics, and Threats, launched on April 28, shows how sophisticated spyware, once reserved for military intelligence – such as Pegasus, Predator and Graphite – has been repackaged as ‘lawful intercept’ technology and marketed to governments around the world.

“These spyware tools now offer so-called “zero-click” or highly intrusive “one-click” capabilities, allowing devices to be compromised without meaningful user interaction,” it warned.

Calling for urgent recommendations to strengthen journalists’ security and protect the media, the study flags the importance of safeguards, especially for independent media across the globe. It recommends the need for “collective advocacy, including transparency in spyware exports and accountability in its use, investment in regional forensic capacity, digital safety training for journalists, and safeguarding encryption and anonymity as fundamental press freedom rights.”

“It reveals how practices that were once limited to isolated state operations have evolved into a global industry involving commercial spyware vendors, telecommunications infrastructure and weak or absent oversight,” said the IFJ in a statement.

The study is based on interviews with cybersecurity experts, forensic analysts and journalists from diverse parts of the world, as well as technical documentation and verified investigations between 2021 and 2025.

Amid data centres mushrooming across the world, the study revealed that data harvested through these mechanisms is fed into artificial intelligence (AI) dashboards that correlate calls, messages, geolocation data, and online activity –automating surveillance at a scale once unimaginable.

“In conflict zones, such as Gaza or Ukraine, AI systems now fuse telecom and drone feeds to identify and track journalists, blurring the line between observation and physical targeting”, the IFJ said.

“Surveillance is the weapon used to kill freedom of expression quietly. When journalists are watched, sources disappear, investigations stop, and self-censorship becomes normal. When sources know journalists are monitored, they stop talking. When reporters self-censor to stay safe, the public loses access to truth. The public doesn’t just lose information, it loses the ability to hold power accountable.” noted Samar Al Halal, a computer and communication engineer and digital security and digital rights expert, who authored the report, which was revised by independent researcher and consultant in cybersecurity and privacy Lukasz Olejnik and commissioned by the IFJ.

On India

On the situation in Indian the IFJ study highlighted that “the Pegasus Project (2021) indicated that numerous Indian journalists were selected as potential targets, and in December 2023 Amnesty Security Lab reported forensic evidence of repeated Pegasus targeting against high-profile journalists, with a companion forensic appendix describing zero-click iMessage exploit traces between August and October 2023.”

The study pointed out how Indian journalists previously received WhatsApp threat notifications in 2019 when a VOIP vulnerability used by NSO was patched, illustrating a pattern that spikes around elections and sensitive investigations (as summarised in regional coverage).

“India’s government has neither confirmed nor denied Pegasus procurement, with matters raised before the Supreme Court and in parliamentary for a. Historically, researchers and litigants have also documented use/procurement controversies around tools like FinFisher,” it noted.