Pegasus Spyware Row: Israel Govt Inspects NSO Group Offices; Firm Says ‘Visit, Not A Raid’

Israel: Days after heated controversy across the world over ‘Pegasus Project’ media report, the Israeli authorities on Wednesday inspected the offices of surveillance outfit NSO Group over charges of snooping into people’s phone.

According to a report by The Guardian, the Defence Ministry officials visited the company’s offices near Tel Aviv regarding the disclosures stemming from the Pegasus project, a consortium of 17 media outlets, including The Guardian, which claimed that that more than 180 editors, investigative reporters and other journalists around the world appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance government clients using Israel-made spyware ‘Pegasus’.

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As per the early inputs, the act has been described as a raid by the Defence Ministry officials, however the company has claimed that it was an ‘informed visit’. In a statement, the company said, “it had been informed in advance that Defence Ministry officials responsible for overseeing commercial exports of sensitive cyber-exports would be doing an inspection.”

It must be noted that the move has come at the same time when Defence Minister Benny Gantz arrived in Paris for a pre-arranged visit, in which he discussed the Pegasus revelations with his French counterpart.

The Guardian earlier reported that more than 180 editors, investigative reporters and other journalists around the world appeared on the leaked list of potential targets for surveillance.

These include journalists who work for some of the world’s most prestigious media organisations such as Wall Street Journal, CNN, the New York Times, Al Jazeera, France 24, Radio Free Europe, Mediapart, El País, Associated Press, Le Monde, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, the Economist, Reuters and Voice of America.

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The last time people in India heard about Pegasus spyware was in 2019, when some WhatsApp users received messages that Pegasus had hacked their phones. Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. According to several reports, the firm has said in the past that it only sells the equipment to governments and is not responsible for its misuse. 

(With agency inputs)