An investigation into NSO Group, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, revealed that the company’s Pegasus product, spyware which is licensed to governments to track alleged terrorists and criminals, was also used by states to hack the smartphones of journalists, human rights activists, and others, according to a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers. NSO’s software is often licensed to countries with a history surveilling their citizens, such as Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and India. An Amnesty International investigation also found evidence that Pegasus was targeted at people close to murdered journalist Jamal Kashoggi. Pegasus software is harder to detect than many other smartphone exploits, capable of reading anything on a device that a user can, and can access sensitive information such as locations, photos, and live camera and microphone recordings.
