Israel Sets Up Team Of Ministers To Examine Pegasus Scandal

Pegasus is intended for use only by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime, NSO said

Israel has set up a senior inter-ministerial team to look into growing allegations that spyware sold by an Israeli cyber firm has been abused on a global scale, news agency Reuters reported quoting an unnamed Israeli source today. The source said a review of the export of the spyware, Pegasus, is unlikely. The team is headed by Israel's National Security Council, which answers to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and has broader areas of expertise than the Defence Ministry, which oversees exports of NSO Group's Pegasus software, the source told Reuters. "This event is beyond the Defence Ministry purview," the source said, referring to potential diplomatic blowback after prominent media reports this week of suspected abuses of Pegasus in France, Mexico, India, Morocco and Iraq. Phone numbers of Indian ministers, opposition leaders and journalists have been found on a database of targets for hacking that used the Israeli spyware - only available to governments - reported The Wire and other publications on Sunday.