A coalition of 17 media organisations including The Guardian and The Washington Post uncovered the database. NSO Group claimed the database is “not related” to the company “in any way”.
Once installed, Pegasus spyware gives the operator complete access to the contents of the target’s phone. The operator can, for instance, access any messages, files and emails along with the ability to secretly activate microphones and cameras.
Amnesty International researchers conducted forensic analysis on the smartphones of 67 people listed on the leaked database. They found that 37 devices were infected with Pegasus. NSO Group dismissed this as a “coincidence”.
On Wednesday officials from Israel’s Ministry of Defense visited NSO Group’s company offices near Tel Aviv for an inspection in relation to the ongoing allegations against the surveillance firm.
A Google-translated tweet by the Ministry said: “Representatives from a number of bodies came to the NSO company today to examine the publications and allegations raised in its case.”
On Tuesday four US Democrat lawmakers joined the chorus of criticism against NSO Group. They called on the Biden administration to place the company on an export blacklist with the likes of Chinese tech giant Huawei.
“Private companies should not be selling sophisticated cyber-intrusion tools on the open market, and the United States should work with its allies to regulate this trade,” said Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, Katie Porter and Anna Eshoo of California, and Joaquin Castro of Texas lawmakers in a joint statement. “Companies that sell such incredibly sensitive tools to dictatorships are the AQ Khans of the cyber world. They should be sanctioned, and if necessary, shut down.”
Last week Amazon Web Services said it shut off cloud infrastructure it provided to NSO Group in response to reports of Pegasus’ misuse.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has sued NSO Group over this. The suit is still ongoing
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