THREAD: Israeli Spyware Targets Activists & Journalists
A new investigation conducted by 17 news outlets revealed that Israeli surveillance company NSO Group’s software has been used to spy on journalists, activists and politicians around the world.
A new investigation conducted by 17 news outlets revealed that Israeli surveillance company NSO Group’s software has been used to spy on journalists, activists and politicians around the world.
NSO Group is an Israeli spyware agency started by Israeli military veterans. The company’s “Pegasus” program targets cell phones and turns them into a walking spy device: a phone’s contacts, conversations and messages are all swept up by the program.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense must approve all NSO Group exports, making the Israeli government complicit in the hacking and surveillance of civil society activists around the world.
The latest investigation into NSO Group found that authoritarian governments, like in Azerbaijan, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates, used the spyware to target journalists and dissidents.
The spyware was used to hack at least 37 smartphones owned by journalists from Azerbaijan, France, Hungary, India, Morocco and more.
The NSO Group, with Israel’s encouragement, also sold its products to Saudi Arabia, even after the kingdom assassinated Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The investigation also revealed that NSO Group’s “Pegasus” was used to target people close to Khashoggi before and after he was murdered by agents of the Saudi government.
Israel is a superpower in the world of surveillance technology. Israeli veterans that serve in surveillance units learn how to spy by targeting Palestinians. Then, they often go on to create spy companies that sell products to repressive regimes.
Israeli spyware is aiding and abetting far-right governments’ efforts to squash dissent and free expression.
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