EXILE Content Studio proudly presents its latest investigative series, Shoot the Messenger: Espionage, Murder, & Pegasus Spyware (subscribe here). In this series we’ll do a deep dive on the news stories that warrant a reexamination, and in season 1, we’ll focus on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the sophisticated spyware known as Pegasus, found on the phones of many of his inner circle. We all use our phones daily, as almost an extension of ourselves - but what happens when our phones are no longer safe?

In 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey and was never seen again. Weeks later, the Turkish intelligence released secret tapes of Khashoggi’s last moments before being brutally murdered, causing an international uproar. It has been four years since Khashoggi’s murder, and what we now know is that the first weapon used against Khashoggi was digital and it’s called Pegasus - a kind of software that can be used to hijack your phone; a military-grade, spyware software.

A new biweekly serialized podcast, every season Exile Content Studio investigates one international new story. You may have heard the headlines — this is the deep dive. The first season examines the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and his inner circle that has had the world’s most sophisticated military-grade spyware confirmed on their phones. It’s called Pegasus. How did this spyware come to be, how does it work, and how vulnerable are you?

Shoot the Messenger is hosted by Rose Reid and Nando Vila and is a production of Exile Content Studio.

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