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GENERAL ENGLISH · BREAKING NEWS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

PEGASUS
SPYWARE - WHO
IS WATCHING?

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1 Warm up
In pairs, answer the following questions.

1. How long have you had a mobile phone for?

2. How much time every day do you usually spend on your phone?
3. What are the main activities you use your phone for?
4. Do you ever leave your phone somewhere if you don’t need it, or is it always with you? Why?
5. How far away is your phone when you sleep at night?
6. What problems would you have if you lost your phone?

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2 Focus on vocabulary

Part A: Match the vocabulary to the definitions.

1. leak (n) a. a person who, usually with an organisation, works to create

social or political change
2. authoritarian (adj.) b. a situation when some secret information about a company or
organisation is made public, often by giving it to a newspaper
3. activist (n) c. a statement which says that a person or an organisation did
something wrong or illegal
4. infect (v) d. behaviour which is not acceptable in a professional situation

5. spyware (n) e. having strict rules that people must obey and not giving
people freedom
6. accusation (n) f. not having official permission to do a particular activity

7. misconduct (n) g. software which sends information about the person using the
computer or phone to someone else
8. unauthorised (adj.) h. to spread a computer virus or software designed to watch the
user through a computer or phone system

Part B: Complete the following sentences with a word connected to the word in brackets.

1. I’m going to have to call the plumber. One of the hot water pipes in the bathroom has started to
. (leak)
2. Not only does he have a PhD in the subject, but he’s also studied Chinese history for his whole
professional life. He’s a real on the subject. (authoritarian)
3. I’ve received my new credit card, but I just need to call the bank so that they can
it. (activist)
4. It’s important to wear a mask and wash your hands regularly as this new virus is highly
. (infect)
5. He was arrested and held by the police on suspicion of for foreign
governments. (spyware)
6. The dinner party had a bit of drama when Linda Dan of cheating on
her with Stella. Stella’s husband wasn’t too pleased either. (accusation)
7. This type of behaviour in the classroom is completely unacceptable. You need to learn how to
yourself properly. (misconduct)
8. I wasn’t able to do any interviews on the Army base as I couldn’t get the proper
. (unauthorised)

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Now in pairs, answer the following questions.

1. Would you describe the government in your country as authoritarian? Why? If not, which countries
do you think have authoritarian governments?
2. Would you like to work as an activist? What cause would you like to be an activist for? Why?
3. In your school/place of work, what type of behaviour would the people in charge describe as
"misconduct"?
4. Do you know of anyone who has had spyware on their computer or phone? What happened?
5. What can you do to make sure no one is able to infect your computer or phone with a virus or
spyware?
6. Do you know of a situation in your country where there was a leak of secret information to the
press? What happened?

3 Listening for details

Listen to the news report and write down how the following elements are connected to the story.

The company Apple

1.

The NSO Group

2.

Pegasus

3.

Jamal Khashoggi

4.

Prime Minister Modi

5.

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4 Listening comprehension
Listen to the report again and answer the following questions.

1. How can an attacker put spyware onto a phone?

a. They must have physical access to the phone.

b. They can send it in a text message.
c. They can use the target’s phone company.

2. What was leaked to news organisations?

a. a list of people working for authoritarian governments.

b. a list of phone numbers for lawyers and activists.
c. a list of 50,000 phone numbers

3. What do the news agencies not know?

a. If the list contains real phone numbers

b. How many people are on the list
c. Who sent them the list

4. What does the NSO Group say about the matter?

a. They were not responsible for creating the spyware.

b. They only sell to countries with positive human rights records.
c. Their spyware was stolen by criminals and terrorists.

5. How many people on the list have been found so far?

a. 1,000
b. 180
c. 50,000

6. Was spyware on the phone of Cecilio Peneda Birto?

a. We don’t know as his phone was taken from the scene of his murder.
b. Yes. It was found on his phone on two different occasions.
c. Yes. He was murdered after spyware was found on his phone.

7. What happened to Andras Szabo and Szabolcs Panyi?

a. They were questioned by the Hungarian government about their use of spyware.
b. They were both found to have spyware on their phones, which was likely linked to their jobs
as investigative journalists.
c. They asked why the Hungarian government used spyware.

8. What did the Indian government say about the spyware?

a. It was not used by anyone working for the government.

b. They did not use it in an illegal way.
c. It was used by people working against Prime Minister Modi.

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5 Finding vocabulary

Find words in the text on page six which have the following meanings.

1. large in size or great in number (paragraph 1)

2. people who someone spends time with or works with (paragraph 1)

3. a hidden listening device (paragraph 1)

4. in a way that was not planned (paragraph 2)

5. without any official laws or rules (paragraph 5)

6. control something or someone and reduce the effect they have (paragraph 5)

7. never having happened before (paragraph 5)

8. to be in danger (paragraph 6)

Part B: Now complete the following questions with the words you found in Part A.

1. Have you ever been by a situation? What happened?

2. What would you say is the main difference between friends and ?
3. Would you wear a if the police asked you to? Why/Why not?
4. When was the last time you spent a amount of money on someone
else? What did you buy?
5. Have you ever hurt someone’s feelings or said something you shouldn’t
have said? What happened?
6. What events have you witnessed in your lifetime?
7. What do you do when you need to the amount of money you spend?
8. Which industries or markets in your country are ? Why?

Now in pairs, answer the questions.

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Spyware
How we are destroying our own privacy

1.
There was a time not too long ago when, if you you? Journalists, activists and business executives
wanted to find out information about someone, it have all been recent targets of Pegasus spyware.
would have taken you a considerable amount of Yet if journalists are writing about something that
time and patience. We’ve all seen the films where the attacker does not want the world to know, or
determined police detectives follow criminals from a the activists are protesting against a government the
distance, plant listening devices in their homes and attacker works for, then the definition of ’wrong’ is
convince associates and girlfriends to wear a wire now more flexible and extends to ’an activity which I
while talking to them. do not like’.
2.
Those days are now gone. We have all unwittingly 5.
As is often the case, money is the main driver behind
made it much easier for anyone to find out about our the largely unregulated spyware business. Software
lives by carrying the details of it around with us for which finds security weaknesses in smartphones and
them. Our phones hold a wealth of information about exploits them is always going to have an international
us. We use them to email, to text, to take photos of market – and when governments are the customers,
our loved ones, to record messages and to organise it is difficult to regulate. It is possible that the only
our bank accounts. Sometimes, we even use them for method of reducing potential damage at the moment
phone calls. As you’re reading this now, think of your will be through legal methods, but even lawyers
phone. Who in your life would you be comfortable familiar with the situation admit that it will not be
with giving unlimited access to it? Your partner? Your easy to rein in the worst offenders as we are in an
children? Your friends? Your parents? Your boss? It’s unprecedented area. It’s made more difficult by the
likely that many reading this would reply: ’none of fact that multiple companies are working on spyware,
the above’. So how would you feel if a stranger had hoping to share in the global profits, and so if one is
unlimited access to it? barred from selling its products, another will step into
3.
Modern spyware allows a stranger to access your its place.
phone without physically touching it at all. When it is 6.
As with all technology, its uses can become misuses.
installed, they can see exactly where you are; they However, humans have a record of protecting
can see you and the people you are with through themselves from the damage technology can do
your camera: both front and back. They can listen to when large communities of people are threatened.
your private phone conversations and record them. Solutions always come, if perhaps a little slower than
They can listen to you speaking to people around you we would like. Until then, though, perhaps it may be
through the microphone and watch you while you a good idea to switch your phone off from time to
sleep. time and rely on it less. You don’t want to find out
4.
Some may argue that if you are doing nothing wrong, what it would be like if your best technological friend
then you have nothing to be afraid of. But what became your worst nightmare.
is the definition of ’wrong’ to the person watching Sources: bbc.co.uk; euronews.com

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6 Reading comprehension
Complete the following sentences with one, two or three words from the text.

1. Previously, finding out a lot of information about someone would have required a lot of
.
2. Now, anyone who is able to access our phones could find out a about
the user.
3. Spyware makes it possible for someone we do not know to have to
our lives.
4. Modern spyware can be without the need for the attacker to touch
your phone at all.
5. Once an attacker has spyware on your phone, they can judge your actions according to their own
personal of what is and isn’t correct behaviour.
6. It’s always going to be possible to make money from software which attacks
on people’s phones and computers.
7. As are producing spyware, it makes the issue a difficult one to control.
8. Due to this issue, it may be worth trying not to your phone too much
and switch it off from time to time. You never know who is watching.

7 Talking point
In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What is your reaction to the news report? Why do you think NSO Group had the list of people?
2. Do you think NSO Group is being truthful about what it is doing, or not? Why?
3. What are the positive ways in which you think this technology could be used?
4. What are the negative ways in which you think this technology could be used?
5. Do you think this spyware technology could be a problem in the world in future? Why/Why not?
6. Do you think this spyware technology could be a problem for you personally in future? Why/Why
not?

8 Extended activity/homework
Read the question.

Spyware is too great a threat to privacy and must be banned. Unless it is illegal, ordinary
people will not be safe from governments and criminals watching them, controlling them
and threatening them.

Write a short essay giving arguments both for and against the above point of view.

You should:

• Write at least 250 words.

• Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation after writing.

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PEGASUS SPYWARE - WHO IS WATCHING?

Transcripts

3. Listening for details

Newsreader: And now we turn to recent reports by a number of international newspapers regarding
NSO Group. The company manufactures spyware which can be installed on Apple or
Android smartphones from a remote location via a text message, rather than require
the attacker to physically have access to the device. In a recent leak to major
news organisations, phone numbers of 50,000 people of interest to authoritarian
governments were discovered.

Newsreader: The numbers belonged to human rights activists, lawyers, and journalists, as well as
heads of state, business executives and even several members of Arab royal families.
What is not known is how many of these numbers were actually infected with spyware
or who supplied the list to news agencies.

Newsreader: The NSO group rejects any accusation of misconduct and claims that its products are
for countries with a good reputation for supporting human rights to be able to use
against terrorists and criminals. They state that they only sell to military organisations,
intelligence agencies and law enforcement from these countries, but did resolve to
investigate the list.

Newsreader: News agencies studying the list have so far identified 1000 of the numbers which
included 180 journalists working for organisations such as The New York Times, Al
Jazeera and CNN. Many of the numbers were in the same countries, such as Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Hungary, India and Rwanda.

Newsreader: The spyware, known as Pegasus, has previously been found on the phones of people
connected to journalists who have been murdered. The fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi,
the journalist who was murdered in Istanbul in 2018, was found to have the spyware
on her phone just a few days after he disappeared.

Newsreader: The phone of Mexican journalist, Cecilio Peneda Birto was also targeted with the
spyware twice, yet his phone was taken from the scene of his murder meaning that
it could not be examined for evidence.

Newsreader: Hungarian investigative journalists, Andras Szabo and Szabolcs Panyi had phones
infected with the spyware, though the Hungarian government denied any knowledge
of the matter.

Newsreader: In India, government ministers working for the opposition against Prime Minister Modi
were also found to be on the leaked list. The Indian government has also denied
unauthorised use of the spyware.

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PEGASUS SPYWARE - WHO IS WATCHING?

Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
This Warm up aims to get students to think about how they use their phones and how much a part of their lives
they are. The concept of spyware will be introduced later so, for now, just get students to think about how much
they rely on their phones and what would happen if they did not have access to them.

2. Focus on vocabulary

Part A
5 mins.
Ensure that students can correctly pronounce the target vocabulary. Ask them to complete this exercise unaided
in the first instance, but then check using a reference if required afterwards.

1. b 2. e 3. a 4. h 5. g 6. c 7. d 8. f
Part B
10 mins.
The first part of this exercise gets students to think about vocabulary related to the vocabulary they covered in Part
A. For this, they are likely to need a reference, although higher-level students may be able to attempt the exercise
without it. This is a good opportunity to link different forms and similar uses together. Note that ’authoritarian’
and ’unauthorised’ are linked in meaning.
Care needs to be taken when discussing which countries are considered ’authoritarian’ although there are clear
reasons why countries are labelled as such. Examples of countries classed as having authoritarian governments
include, but are not limited to: North Korea, Syria, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Turkmenistan, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, Libya, Laos, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Cambodia, China
and Belarus.
businessinsider.com

1. leak 2. authority 3. activate 4. infectious

5. spying 6. accused 7. conduct 8. authorisation

3. Listening for details

5 mins.
This gives students an opportunity to listen to the news report for the first time and understand some of the key
elements of the story. You may want to ask students to predict how the elements are connected to the story
before they listen.

1. Their phones can be infected with the spyware 2. The company that makes the spyware
3. The name of the spyware 4. The Saudi Arabian journalist who was murdered in
2018. His former wife and his fiance both had the
spyware on their phones.
5. Political figures who were against him had the
spyware on their phones.

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4. Listening comprehension

5 mins.
Ask students to read through the questions and predict the answers after the first listening. Then they can listen
for a second time to check their answers.

1. b 2. c 3. c 4. b 5. a 6. a 7. b 8. b

5. Finding vocabulary

Part A
5 mins.
This gives students a chance to look more closely at some of the vocabulary before attempting the comprehension
questions. Ask students to underline the vocabulary when they have found it. You may want to extend the activity
by asking them to find other forms of the target vocabulary in a reference before continuing. Be sure that students
are able to correctly pronounce the target vocabulary.

1. considerable 2. associates 3. wire 4. unwittingly

5. unregulated 6. rein in 7. unprecedented 8. threatened
Part B
5 mins.
This gives the students a chance to reuse the words from Part A and then have a short discussion while reusing
the words. While students are discussing, be sure to circulate and help as needed.

1. threatened 2. associates 3. wire 4. considerable

5. unwittingly 6. unprecedented 7. rein in 8. unregulated

6. Reading comprehension

10 mins.
Ask students to read the text more carefully and complete the gaps with one, two or three words which they can
find in the texts. You may want to pair lower-level students with higher-level students for this exercise.

1. time and patience 2. wealth of information 3. unlimited access 4. installed

5. definition 6. security weaknesses 7. multiple companies 8. rely on

7. Talking point

10 mins.
Ask students to discuss the questions in pairs or small groups. Ensure there is a supportive atmosphere and be
sure to tell your students that they can have their own opinion but ask them to justify that opinion with a reason.
Avoid giving your own opinion about the topic so that students feel able to voice their own thoughts.

8. Extended activity/homework

40 mins+.
Ask the students to research, plan, write and edit their essays based on the information they have learned and
discussed in the lesson. Be sure to give students feedback on their work.

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