Just as the surveillance tool Pegasus powered the Israeli hacking company NSO Group to dizzying commercial success, so too would it ultimately cause its downfall. For years, NSO claimed Pegasus was provided only to “authorized governments” in the fight against “terror and crime.” Unrivaled in its ability to break into and surveil Android and iPhone devices, Pegasus gave NSO’s clients the ability to spy on the smartphones of targets, providing a periscope with which to view the most intimate details of their lives. But thanks to years of reporting and research by Amnesty International, Citizen Lab, and a global consortium known as the Pegasus Project, we know that this spyware was also used to break into the phones of politicians, journalists, and civil rights activists around the world. In the aftermath of the Pegasus Project revelations last summer, NSO appears to be on the verge of collapse. Thanks to U.S. sanctions, NSO’s ability to operate has been severely restricted and the company that once pioneered the use of digital hacking tools has become a byword for unbridled espionage.
Lessons for policymakers from the NSO Group saga (brookings.edu)
