NSO Group has blocked the use of your spyware Pegasus to some governments, as reported NPR. The Israeli company is investigating the misuse of its spyware, which was allegedly used to spy on thousands of people, the report revealed. Guardian and the Washington Post on July 19.
The decision of NSO It happens hours after Israeli authorities accessed their headquarters following accusations of spying on the software. The company maintains that the persons named in the different media they weren’t targets of Pegasus. Even so, and after an internal investigation, they have vetoed the use of their spyware to some government clients. “We are investigating several of our clients and have suspended some temporarily,” they confirmed. Yes, they do not mention which ones have been blocked, given that Israeli defense regulations prohibit it.
It is not the first time NSO Group blocks the access of Pegasus to his clients. The Israeli firm has confirmed that in recent years the software five government agencies have been suspended. Among them, those belonging to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or some delegations from Mexico.
Pegasus: a spyware created to supposedly do good
Pegasus is spyware that NSO sells to other countries like a tool to prevent crime and terrorism. However, this solution has been the focus of controversy on many occasions due to the misuse of some governments, which acquire it to, initially, protect citizens. A recent investigation carried out by the media revealed that political leaders used it to generate a list of up to 50,000 targets. Mostly human rights defenders, such as journalists, activists or politicians.
Pegasus spyware can exploit vulnerabilities in major operating systems to access and control personal information on the devicesuch as data stored in the phone’s internal memory, application chats and messaging services, or even the ability to remotely activate the camera and microphone.
Pegasus has a large number of customers around the world. Specifically, and according to the aforementioned source, 60 spread over a total of 40 countries. In Spain, in fact, spyware could have been used to, through WhatsApp, closely follow the movements of Roger Torrent, president of the Parliament of Catalonia.