{"id":10836,"date":"2021-07-20T06:19:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T11:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/?p=10836"},"modified":"2021-07-20T06:19:36","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T11:19:36","slug":"pegasus-project-turns-spotlight-on-spyware-firm-nsos-ties-to-israeli-state-israel-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esterlund.com\/blog\/pegasus-project-turns-spotlight-on-spyware-firm-nsos-ties-to-israeli-state-israel-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Pegasus project turns spotlight on spyware firm NSO\u2019s ties to Israeli state | Israel | The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: Pegasus project turns spotlight on spyware firm NSO\u2019s ties to Israeli state | Israel | The Guardian<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Disclosures about political figures put Israel under increasing pressure over extent of surveillance<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Stephanie Kirchgaessner<\/a>\u00a0in Washington,\u00a0Oliver Holmes<\/a>\u00a0in Jerusalem and\u00a0Shaun Walker<\/a>\u00a0in Budapest<\/div>\n<\/address>\n
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Back in 2017, few would have disputed that\u00a0Israel<\/a>\u00a0and Saudi Arabia were regional foes. Officially, the countries had no diplomatic ties. Yet for a small group of Israeli businesspeople attending secret meetings with Saudi officials in Vienna, Cyprus and Riyadh that summer, there were signs relations were warming.<\/p>\n

The businesspeople represented NSO Group. Their mission was to sell the Saudis NSO\u2019s weapons\u2013grade spyware system, Pegasus.<\/p>\n

According to a person who attended the meeting in June 2017 in Cyprus, a senior Saudi intelligence official was \u201camazed\u201d by what he saw. After a lengthy and technical discussion, the Saudi spy, who had brought a new iPhone, was shown how Pegasus could infect the phone and then be used to remotely operate its camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to understand the language to see they were amazed and excited and that they saw what they needed to,\u201d the person said.<\/p>\n

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