Israeli Ministry Of Justice Operates NSO Database, Here's What They Found!

The NSO database holds a lot of information about the Pegasus hacks. (photo: twitter)

JAKARTA - The Israeli government's high-level investigation into alleged police wiretapping is currently examining a database provided by the NSO Group, the manufacturer of the powerful hacking tool Pegasus. The statement was issued by the Israeli Ministry of Justice on Sunday, February 13.

NSO, which denies wrongdoing amid months of spiraling reports in Israel and abroad about privacy breaches by government clients using Pegasus, said its database of "audit logs" provided accurate information on phones infected by the spyware.

Israel's Calcalist newspaper, in an anonymous report last week, said police had used Pegasus without a judge's warrant against public figures including a son and two confidants of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is on trial in three corruption cases. He has pleaded not guilty. The Calcalist report prompted the court to cancel the session so prosecutors could respond to defense questions about whether any of the evidence against him came from tainted wiretapping.

The Justice Ministry statement said an internal police investigation had found "that no action has been taken against anyone without a court order against them". This includes about 1.500 phone numbers that were checked, the statement added.

"The investigation carried out by the deputy attorney general also checked the information in the internal database of NSO companies, which is available," said a source at Israel's Ministry of Justice, as quoted by Reuters, but an NSO spokesman declined to comment on this.

Netanyahu, now leader of the opposition, has demanded an independent external investigation into the Pegasus allegations.

The call has been echoed by several members of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's cabinet - who has been delayed, saying he was first waiting for the deputy attorney general's findings.

Prosecutors in Netanyahu's trial requested that the Jerusalem District Court give them until next Wednesday to provide a more complete response, citing the need to declassify the material first, the Justice Ministry statement said.