Enlarge image
NSO Group: "In almost all of the cases that we examined, we did not find any connection to Pegasus"
Photo: JOEL SAGET / AFP
The Pegasus project does not leave the manufacturer of Pegasus unaffected: The NSO Group from Israel received a visit from the authorities in their country on Wednesday - "to check the allegations against the company," as the Ministry of Defense announced.
In addition, an NSO employee told the US radio station NPR that several government customers are currently excluded from access to Pegasus.
The company is investigating whether they have abused Pegasus.
"We're investigating some of our customers, some of whom have been temporarily suspended," the person said, according to the NPR.
She did not give details such as the names of the customers, as Israeli regulations prohibit that.
Since NSO has currently officially announced a press boycott, the person wanted to remain anonymous.
Your statements are not officially confirmed.
NSO is fully cooperating with the state investigation, the person said, saying they want to prove to officials that the people named in the media were not Pegasus targets.
They have checked some of the cell phone numbers that, according to the media involved in the Pegasus project, were at least potential targets.
The result: "In almost all cases that we checked, we did not find any connection to Pegasus."
She did not provide any information on the other cases in which there was possibly a connection to Pegasus.
The company says it has 60 customers in 40 countries, all of them secret services, law enforcement agencies and military facilities.
It repeatedly emphasizes that Pegasus is only used in the fight against criminals and terrorists.
However, who falls under this definition is determined by the respective government.
Blocking access to Pegasus against NSO customers would probably not be entirely new.
The company's Transparency and Responsibility Report published at the end of June states that since 2016 five customers have been “disconnected from the system”.
The report also states that the cooperation with five customers was terminated because they violated human rights.
It is not clear from the report whether they were the same five.
In return, NSO refers to its own revenue losses: The layoffs would have cost the company an estimated $ 100 million in revenue.
pbe
