(Bloomberg) — Israel said it found no evidence that police illicitly targeted civilians with spyware developed by NSO Group, contradicting a series of local reports that alleged widespread abuse of the notorious Pegasus tool including against prominent officials and business leaders.
The committee that made the findings was headed by Israel’s deputy attorney general. It used data from NSO and was aided by experts from the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, and the Shin Bet, it’s internal security service, according to a Justice Ministry statement.
“There are no indications that the police used the Pegasus software, without a court order, against any of the people cited in the media,” the ministry wrote late Monday.
Calcalist, a Hebrew business daily, had reported over the past few weeks that law enforcement officials used Pegasus without a court order to tap into the phones of citizens ranging from a key prosecution witness in former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, the former Israeli leader’s son, high-ranking government officials, and the heads of some of the country’s biggest companies.
Israel to Probe If Notorious Spyware Used Illicitly at Home
It was the latest scandal linked to the embattled Israeli firm, which has been under scrutiny for years, but the first in its home country. Pegasus, which can be remotely installed in smartphones to extract even encrypted communications, has been allegedly used to target journalists, dissidents and human rights activists by foreign governments including Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
NSO is privately owned and operated, but the licensing of its software to foreign governments has to be approved by Israel’s Defense Ministry.
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