Pegasus spyware - macbook pro and iphone?

Brave itself ought not to cause slow performance but the VPN definitely could.

Definitely don't use Chrome, but simply not using it is not enough. You have to uninstall Google from your Mac because installing Chrome requires Google litters a Mac with a plethora of constantly running and automatically-updating processes. It's a very popular means of harvesting your personal data, and if that causes your Mac to run slowly Google doesn't care. For all I know using a VPN might frustrate it and exacerbate those effects.

As far as I know Google's uninstallation instructions are effective, but confirm for yourself that all remnants of it are permanently and irrevocably gone.

Then please write back for some additional suggestions regarding your Mac because there are some more things you can do.

As for the iPhone, you might be better off posting a new question in the Using iPhone Community. Remedies for the iPhone are (predictably) updating iOS, and in the extreme resetting it to factory defaults and setting it up again.

Keeping their respective operating systems up to date is the most effective method to avoid or eradicate such exploits, whenever they may arise in the future. Apple patched this particular vulnerability in September of last year.

"Pegasus" was specifically targeted to exploit a specific number of people. If you were one of them, then you have been spied on by entities with essentially unlimited amounts of time and money to spend on targeting you specifically. And, if you were one of them, there are many more ways of placing you under surveillance.

You may not get a lot of replies because questions such as yours generally elicit a lot of well-intentioned suggestions to use this or that third party product (invariably characterized as "safe and effective!") claiming to "scan" for, "protect" against, and / or eliminate Pegasus, which then predictably degenerates into a lot of other unhelpful "noise".

Adding to the confusion is that there has been a completely legitimate Apple process (framework) called "pegasus" for a long time. It's totally unrelated to the Pegasus exploit.

Suffice it to say that it is not possible to conclusively rule out the possibility you did not become the unwitting subject of some highly sophisticated and extremely expensive surveillance program. And, if you find that to be the case, there's not a darn thing you can do about it — not without access to equally highly sophisticated and extremely expensive countermeasures.

The rest of us just keep our devices up to date.

Is it futile to seek personal privacy at this point?

No. More and more people are becoming aware of how they are being manipulated, and that's a good thing.

Only you can place a value on personal privacy. Some people don't seem to care, but when the effects of privacy intrusion eventually become apparent, and they ultimately comprehend its implications, often they become furious. Imagine the fury when they discover they agreed to it.

To their credit, Google makes no attempt to hide what they do. It's all explained in the terms and conditions everyone agrees to prior to using their services. To them, you are a product to sell. A money-making machine is all you are to them, and they're obviously quite good at it. Their products may be "free" but if all were fair they'd be paying you.

If you are concerned about privacy online (and you should be) start here: https://spreadprivacy.com/

Don't be surprised when the more you learn, the madder you get 😄