According to a report released by Reuters on Friday, at least nine U.S. State Department officials’ Apple iPhones were hacked by an unidentified entity using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
NSO Group in an email Register The company said that after receiving inquiries about the incident, it has blocked unnamed customers from accessing its system, but has not yet confirmed whether its software is involved.
“Once an inquiry is received, before conducting any investigation in accordance with our compliance policy, due to the seriousness of the allegations, we have decided to immediately terminate the relevant customer’s access to the system,” a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics told Register In an email. “So far, we have not received any information or phone numbers, and there is no indication that NSO tools have been used in this situation.”
This Israeli company recently Sanctioned by the U.S. Suspected of providing its intrusion software to an authoritarian regime and was prosecuted by both parties Apple And Meta (Facebook) WeChat Allegedly supporting hackers to attack their customers, they said they would cooperate with any relevant government agencies and pass on the information they learned from the investigation of the incident.
The spyware company insists that it does not know the targets specified by its customers using its software.
“To clarify, customers install our software through phone numbers. As mentioned earlier, NSO’s technology is forbidden to use US (+1) numbers,” a spokesperson for NSO said. “Once the software is sold to a licensed customer, NSO cannot know who the customer’s target is. Therefore, we do not have and cannot know about this case.”
According to Reuters, The affected staff of the State Department are based in Uganda or specialize in matters related to that country, so their phone numbers have foreign prefixes instead of American prefixes.
On November 23, when Apple announced a lawsuit against NSO Group, the iPhone maker also Said It will notify iPhone customers who have been attacked by state-sponsored hackers. On the same day, Norbert Mao, chairman and lawyer of the Democratic Party of Uganda, Post on Twitter He received an Apple threat notification.
June, Washington Post Report The Pegasus software of the National Bureau of Statistics involved attempted or successful intrusion into 37 cell phones belonging to journalists and rights advocates, including two women who were closely related to the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The report stated that the findings weakened NSO Group’s claim that its software was only licensed for use in combating terrorists and law enforcement.
In the same month, the National Bureau of Statistics released the 2021 transparency and accountability report [PDF], In which the company insists that its software is specifically designed to combat groups with few allies, such as terrorists, criminals, and pedophiles.
“Myth: Pegasus is a large-scale surveillance tool,” the report said. “Fact: Collect data only from individuals, predetermined suspects and terrorists.”
From many reports Network security research with human rights The group refuted this claim, not to mention the claims of the United Nations, the European Union and the United States against the company.
U.S. State Department spokesperson refused Registry Asked to confirm the Reuters report, but stated that the State Council has the responsibility to protect its information seriously. We have also been told that the Biden-Harris administration is working to limit the use of digital repressive tools.
The NSO Group insists that so far, it has rejected $300 million in revenue due to unresolved human rights issues, and between May 2020 and April 2021, it has rejected 15% of new revenues for the same reason. Business.
The company did not list the names of its customers in its transparency and accountability report, but it contained many unsigned endorsements about its products, and it has not yet issued a document that verifies its claims. ®
