US State Department Employees Target Israeli-made Pegasus Spyware

Pegasus, capable of infecting mobile phones remotely and eavesdropping on calls or text messages. (photo: doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Spyware Pegasus developed by the NSO Group company based in Israel has again shocked iPhone users. This time the hack targeted employees at the United States Department of State (US), who served in Africa.

First reported by Reuters, as many as nine employees became the target of this hack. Now, the US State Department is in the process of figuring out who had access to the employee's cell phone, and how this hack happened.

There's a good chance the situation was the result of a US employee getting a new iPhone and still having the Pegasus spyware software left on the device, even though they removed it.

The US State Department investigation is a sign that the growing market for hacking tools sold by private companies is increasingly a threat not only to human rights, but to US national security.

In response to this, a spokesperson for the NSO Group said that once the company learned of the incident they immediately cut off the access of the customer suspected of hacking into the system, due to the severity of the allegations.

"To date, we have not received any information or telephone numbers, or any indication that NSO tools were used in this case. On top of an independent investigation, NSO will cooperate with the relevant government authorities and provide the full information we will have," an NSO spokesperson said. Group as quoted from CNN International, Sunday, December 5.

However, NSO did not reveal who the customer was. The company has long maintained that it only sells its products to law enforcement and government intelligence clients, helps them monitor security threats, and is not directly involved in surveillance operations.

The NSO Group's main spyware product, Pegasus, is capable of remotely infecting phones and eavesdropping on calls or text messages.

"While we cannot confirm, in general the Department takes the responsibility for safeguarding information seriously and continues to take steps to ensure information is protected," a State Department spokesperson said.

Indeed, the administration of US President, Joe Biden, has been deeply concerned that commercial spyware such as NSO Group software poses a serious counter-intelligence and security risk to US personnel.

The NSO Group and other spyware companies have previously been added to the U.S. blacklisted Entity List for allegedly developing and supplying spyware to foreign governments that use these tools to target government officials, journalists, business people, activists, academics, and embassy workers.

In this incident the US State Department, Apple declined to comment. Last month, the Cupertino, US-based company sued NSO Group for allegedly violating federal anti-hacking laws by selling Pegasus to clients.

They suspect, NSO Group is using the software to spy on Apple customers. In a statement at the time, NSO Group did not address the lawsuit directly, but disclosed that the company provided legitimate tools to fight terrorists and criminals.