FBI confirms it bought spyware from Israel's NSO Group
The Hindu
NSO Group has said Pegasus is programmed not to target phones with the +1 U.S. country code, but American citizens living abroad have been among its victims
The FBI has confirmed purchasing NSO Group's powerful spyware tool Pegasus, whose chronic abuse to surveil journalists, dissidents and human rights activists has long been established. It suggested its motivation was to “stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft.”
The agency added in a statement February 2 that it obtained a limited license from the Israeli firm “for product testing and evaluation only,” never using it operationally or to support any investigation.
But critics wondered why the premier U.S. law enforcement agency would need to pay for access to a notorious surveillance tool that has been extensively researched by public interest cyber sleuths if its interest was so limited.
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