This studio photographic illustration shows a smartphone with the website of Israel's NSO Group which features 'Pegasus' spyware, on display in Paris on July 21, 2021. - Private Israeli firm NSO Group has denied media reports its Pegasus software is linked to the mass surveillance of journalists and rights defenders, and insisted that all sales of its technology are approved by Israel's defence ministry (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)
New York Times: The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon
In June 2019, three Israeli computer engineers arrived at a New Jersey building used by the F.B.I. They unpacked dozens of computer servers, arranging them on tall racks in an isolated room. As they set up the equipment, the engineers made a series of calls to their bosses in Herzliya, a Tel Aviv suburb, at the headquarters for NSO Group, the world’s most notorious maker of spyware. Then, with their equipment in place, they began testing.
The F.B.I. had bought a version of Pegasus, NSO’s premier spying tool. For nearly a decade, the Israeli firm had been selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world, promising that it could do what no one else — not a private company, not even a state intelligence service — could do: consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone.
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Update: What We Learned About Pegasus, the Smartphone Cracker (New York Times)
WNU Editor: Some major countries want in on the action .... India bought Israeli Pegasus spyware as part of weapons deal: NYT (Al JAzeera). Even the FBI is interested .... F.B.I. Secretly Bought Israeli Spyware and Explored Hacking U.S. Phones (New York Times). More here .... The FBI Reportedly Considered Buying Spyware That Could Hack Any Phone in the U.S. (Gizmodo).
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