Thread by @IntelDoge

Absolutely astonishing report from The Guardian regarding hacking software sold by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group. Leak contains list of 50,000+ phone numbers, possible POI's of clients by NSO Group.

According to the article, the presence of a phone number on the list doesn't necessarily mean that there was an attempt to place the Pegasus malware on the device, but it's believed that the list could have "future targets" on it.

Identities of the people in the leak will be released in the coming days by The Guardian and its media partners.

In the list of phone numbers includes "hundreds of business executives, religious figures, academics, NGO employees, union officials, government officials --

including cabinet ministers, presidents and prime ministers."

Numbers of more than 180 journalists are also listed in the data, including reporters, editors and executives at Financial Times, CNN, the New York Times, France 24, the Economist, Associated Press, and Reuters.

Phone number of freelance Mexican reporter Cecilio Pineda Birto was found in the list, apparently of interest to a Mexican client in the weeks leading up to Cecilio's murder. His killers were able to locate him at a carwash. His phone was never recovered, therefore it's not --

known whether or not Cecilio's phone had the Pegasus malware on it.

Pegasus, once installed, could theoretically steal any data from the device and transmit it back to who installed it.

Texts, emails, WhatsApp chats, Photos and videos, GPS data, calendar data, contact information, etc. It allowed the attacker to force enable the mic and camera

as well as record phone calls, without the person knowing.

According to The Guardian, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz "closely regulates NSO Group" and approves each individual export license before the software is sold to a new country.

NSO Group firmly denies all allegations in the report.

The company has been accused of violating human rights, and selling its software to regimes who use to it spy on civilians and dissidents.

In 2019, WhatsApp filed a lawsuit in California state court against NSO Group, alleging that they hacked the WhatsApp server to plant the Pegasus malware on 1,400 user devices worldwide. It alleges journalists, lawyers, religious leaders, and political dissidents were targeted.

As of July 2020 we're still waiting for results on the lawsuit. A U.S. district court judge in California ruled that the lawsuit could proceed. The judge explained they were not being convinced by NSO Group's argument that it didn't have a role in targeting WhatsApp users.