Israel sells smartphone monitoring software to Gulf countries
It was reported that Israel mediated the sale of smartphone monitoring software provided by
With Israel's encouragement, NSO sold spyware to UAE and other Gulf states-Israel News-Haaretz.com
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-with-israel-s-encouragement-nso-sold-spyware-to-uae-and-other-gulf-states-1.9093465
Israel's sales agent for the Gulf countries is the smartphone monitoring software ' Pegasus ' provided by the NSO Group. Pegasus can read text messages, track call information, collect passwords, take control of microphones and video cameras, read information in applications, etc.In June 2020, it will be a hack targeted at human rights journalists. Is also used.
What was the 'invisible hack' that attacked iPhone user journalists? -GIGAZINE
According to the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz , Israel was not only contacting the NSO group and Gulf states intelligence officials, but was also attending a marketing conference held by the NSO group and Gulf States intelligence agencies. In addition, some marketing meetings were even held in Israel.
Haaretz pointed out that the NSO Group has a specialized department that works with Gulf countries, and this specialized department is the most profitable department of the company with annual sales of several hundred million dollars (about several billion yen). The NSO Group has recently signed contracts with Gulf countries such as Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, as well as emirates such as Abu Dhabi and Ras al-Khaimah, which make up the UAE. NSO does not trade with Qatar because Israel prohibits trade with Qatar.
According to Haaretz, intelligence agents in Gulf countries can capture the information contained on the target smartphone within hours by entering the target phone number in Pegasus. In addition, Pegasus has not only advanced protection functions to protect the identity of intelligence personnel, but it also prevents information leakage when a smartphone with Pegasus installed enters five countries of Israel, Iran, Russia, China and the United States. It is said that it is equipped with a function that 'automatically disappears' in order to get it. To use the Pegasus, a Gulf country signed a $250 million contract with the NSO group, Haaretz reports.
The NSO Group claims that Pegasus is 'used only to monitor criminals' for its intended use. However, Haaretz points out that 'there is no department that oversees the use of Pegasus, and we do not know what purpose the intelligence agency is using Pegasus.'
The NSO Group has been sued by WhatsApp in 2019 for 'secretly launching a cyber attack against rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and academic institutions for two weeks through WhatsApp's video call system.'
WhatsApp sues Israeli technology company over a global hack that created assassination and intimidation-GIGAZINE
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