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‘Spy in the pocket’ embarrasses Israel

Politicians, lawyers, journalists and human rights activists from all corners of the world may have been the target of cyber espionage using software from Israel. Does the outcry at that disclosure prompt policymakers to regulate the digital world, which is very much like the Wild West?

For six months, the authors, with the help of tech experts from Amnesty International and coordinated by the network of journalists Forbidden Stories, plowed through a list of over 50,000 phone numbers. They turned out to belong to heads of state such as the Franse president Emmanuel Macron or the Moroccan King Mohammed VI, (ex-)government leaders such as Charles Michel, the Frenchman Édouard Philippe or the Pakistani Imran Khan, diplomats, dissidents, business leaders, generals and hundreds of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists.

The essence

  • Politicians, journalists, lawyers and human rights activists worldwide may have been targets of cyber espionage in recent years, investigative journalists revealed.
  • The case revolves around Pegasus, spy software from the Israeli private company NSO Group.
  • The revelations have raised calls for stricter regulation of the digital world.
  • Attempts to develop ‘traffic regulations’ for cyberspace have failed in recent decades, however, because the superpowers in the digital world are reluctant to limit their own ‘leeway’.


All those people had one thing in common. Since 2016, they have been selected as a by a dozen governments in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe potential target for Pegasus, sophisticated espionage software developed by NSO Group.

Elitehackersteam

That Israeli private company has grown in a decade to become a leader in phone surveillance. At the headquarters in Herzliya, three quarters of the approximately 750 employees are tasked day and night with one task: looking for vulnerabilities in the iOS and Android operating systems.

The smallest leak is enough to lead Pegasus into the 3.8 billion smartphones in use worldwide. Then the user of the spy software on the phone can listen in on conversations, track the GPS location, browse the contact list, view photos and read all emails and messages – even encrypted ones. The ‘spy in the pocket’ can even activate the microphone or the camera unnoticed.



We develop technology that helps government agencies prevent and fight terror and crime to save thousands of lives worldwide.

NSO Group designed the software ‘with noble intentions’. “We are developing technology that helps government agencies prevent and fight terror and crime to save thousands of lives worldwide,” the statement reads. website.

The company is asking its customers, some 40 governments, to commit to using its products only in the fight against terrorism and crime. It dismisses the revelations about spying on politicians, journalists, lawyers and human rights activists as ‘false assumptions’ and ‘unconfirmed theories’.

Diplomatic instrument

The revelations lead to an uneasy shuffle in Israeli political circles. NSO is a private company on paper. But because espionage software is a sensitive technology, its export is only possible after approval from the Ministry of Defense.

The government therefore knows who NSO’s customers are and determines which regimes get their hands on digital weapons. “The Israeli government has made it clear that the US, China, Russia and Israel themselves are off limits to Pegasus,” a source around NSO Group confirmed to Forbidden Stories.



Ex-Prime Minister Netanyahu used Israeli technology as a sort of ambassador.

The previous Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is even said to have used NSO products as a diplomatic tool. “Netanyahu used Israeli technology as a kind of ambassador,” said a lawyer.

The sale of Pegasus to Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain is said to have initiated the normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel. The fact that these regimes do not always take human rights very seriously turned out to be of less importance to the Israeli government.

As the revelations spark a storm of outrage, the Israeli parliament is setting up a commission of inquiry. It must check whether the spy software has been misused and whether adjustments to the export policy are necessary.

Wild West

Cybersecurity experts hope Pegasus will encourage policymakers to tighten up regulation of the digital world. It has a lot in common with the Wild West.

“In our daily lives, we can no longer do without a mobile phone or the Internet,” said French cybersecurity consultant Bernard Barbier on French radio. “Control is imperative.”

He gets support from Edward Snowden. ‘We do not allow the commercialization of nuclear and biological weapons. But we don’t do anything for digital weapons. The sale of that intrusive technology must be curbed,” he told Forbidden Stories.



We do not allow the commercialization of nuclear and biological weapons. But we don’t do anything for digital weapons.

Edward snowden

Whistleblower



Attempts to develop ‘traffic regulations’ for cyberspace, however, have failed time and again in recent decades. Not least because digital superpowers – such as the US, China and Russiastruggling with a dilemma.

They realize that cyber threats are a systemic risk. At the same time, digital weapons help them to strengthen their (geopolitical) position of power. With stricter regulation, they also limit their own ‘leeway’. As long as they are in doubt, a ‘spy’ can appear in the pocket of every citizen of the world.

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