NSO Group has blocked the use of its Pegasus spyware to some governments , according to NPR reports. The Israeli company is investigating the misuse of its spyware, which was allegedly used to spy on thousands of people, the Guardian and the Washington Post revealed on July 19.
The NSO decision comes hours after Israeli authorities accessed their headquarters following allegations of spying on the software. The company maintains that the people named in the different media were not Pegasus targets . Even so, and after an internal investigation, they have banned the use of their spyware from some government clients. “We are investigating several of our clients and we 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 that NSO Group has blocked Pegasus access to its clients. The Israeli firm has confirmed that in recent years the software has been suspended to five government agencies . Among them, those belonging to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or some delegations from Mexico.
Pegasus – a spyware created to supposedly do good
Photo by Angela Compagnone Pegasus is spyware that NSO sells to other countries as 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. Most of them are 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 device , such as data stored in the internal memory of the phone, 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 for, through WhatsApp , closely follow the movements of Roger Torrent, president of the Parliament of Catalonia.
