Pegasus spyware creator NSO Group has 22 active contracts in Europe

International

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

London,
Aug
11:
Israeli
technology
firm
NSO
Group,
which
grabbed
global
attention,
including
in
India,
amid
allegations
of
misuse
of
its
controversial
spyware
Pegasus,
apparently
has
a
large
presence
in
the
Europe
Union
with
at
least
22
contracts
covering
12
of
the
27
member
states,
a
media
report
said
on
Wednesday.
Pegasus
spyware
and
competing
products
make
it
possible
to
infect
the
cell
phone
of
the
victim
of
the
surveillance,
and
afterwards
enable
the
operator
to
eavesdrop
on
conversations,
read
apps
with
encrypted
messages,
and
provide
total
access
to
contacts
and
files
on
the
device,
a
PTI
report
said.

The
Pegasus
spyware
enables
eavesdropping
in
real
time
on
what
is
taking
place
around
the
cellphone
by
operating
the
camera
and
the
microphone.

Representatives
of
the
European
Parliament
Committee
of
Inquiry
on
Pegasus
spyware
recently
visited
Israel
and
learned
from
NSO
personnel
that
the
company
has
active
contracts
with
12
European
Union
members,
daily
Ha’aretz
reported.

Spain
sacks
spy
chief
amid
Pegasus
scandal:
reports

The
replies
of
the
Israeli
cyber
warfare
company
to
the
committee’s
questions,
which
were
obtained
by
the
newspaper,
reveal
that
the
company
is
now
working
with
22
security
and
enforcement
organisations
in
the
EU,
it
added.

The
company’s
representatives
in
their
conversations
and
exchanges
with
PTI
have
maintained
that
their
spyware
is
used
by
“government
clients”
to
target
terrorists
and
other
serious
crimes.
Members
of
the
European
Parliament
Committee
of
Inquiry
who
came
to
Israel
are
said
to
have
been
surprised
to
discover
contracts
with
their
countries
of
origin.

The
Committee’s
representatives
visited
Israel
in
recent
weeks
“to
learn
in-depth
about
the
local
cyber
warfare
industry”,
and
held
discussions
with
NSO
employees,
representatives
of
the
Israeli
Defence
Ministry
and
local
experts.

Among
the
committee
members
was
a
Catalan
legislator
whose
cell
phone
was
hacked
by
an
NSO
customer,
the
report
noted.

“The
committee
was
established
after
the
publication
of
Project
Pegasus
last
year,
and
its
objective
is
to
create
pan-European
regulations
for
the
acquisition,
import
and
use
of
cyber
warfare
software
such
as
Pegasus,”
the
report
said.

Pegasus
spyware
owner
sues
Israeli
newspaper

“But
while
committee
members
were
in
Israel,
and
particularly
since
their
return
to
Brussels,
it
was
revealed
that
Europe
also
has
a
well-developed
cyber
warfare
industry
–
and
many
of
its
customers
are
European
countries,”
it
said.

The
EU
legislators
were
tasked
to
know
the
identity
of
NSO
customers
in
Europe
at
present
and
were
surprised
to
discover
that
most
of
the
EU
countries
had
contracts
with
the
company:
14
countries
have
done
business
with
NSO
in
the
past
and
at
least
12
are
still
using
Pegasus
for
lawful
interception
of
mobile
calls,
as
per
NSO’s
response
to
the
committee’s
questions.

In
response
to
the
legislators’ questions,
the
company
explained
that
at
present
NSO
works
with
22
“end
users”
–
security
and
intelligence
organisations
and
law
enforcement
authorities
–
in
12
European
countries.

In
some
of
the
countries
there
is
more
than
one
client
as
they
are
with
operating
organisations,
the
report
said.

In
the
past,
as
per
NSO’s
submission,
the
company
worked
with
two
additional
countries
with
whom
the
ties
have
now
been
severed.
NSO
did
not
disclose
which
countries
are
active
customers
and
with
which
two
countries
the
contract
was
frozen,
it
said.

NSO
reportedly
did
not
respond
to
Haaretz’s
request
for
comment.

Israel,
earlier
in
January
this
year,
distanced
itself
from
the
controversy
triggered
by
the
blacklisting
of
the
NSO
Group
after
allegations
of
illegal
use
of
its
Pegasus
spyware
to
target
government
officials,
activists
and
journalists
globally,
saying
that
it
is
a
private
company
and
it
has
nothing
to
do
with
the
policies
of
the
Israeli
government.

“NSO
is
a
private
company,
it
is
not
a
governmental
project
and
therefore
even
if
it
is
designated,
it
has
nothing
to
do
with
the
policies
of
the
Israeli
government,”
Israel’s
then
Foreign
Minister
and
now
Prime
Minister
Yair
Lapid
had
said
at
a
press
conference
days
after
the
company
was
blacklisted
by
the
US
Department
of
Commerce.