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The NSO Group has denied that its spyware was used to compromise the phones of many politicians, but WhatsApp tells a different story. Cat giant CEO Will Cathcart said The Guardian in an interview that states governments used NSO’s Pegasus software to attack senior government officials around the world in 2019, including senior national security officials who were allies of the United States. The breaches were said to have been part of a larger campaign that compromised 1,400 WhatsApp users in two weeks, prompting legal action.
The NSO report “matches” the findings of the 2019 attack on WhatsApp, Cathcart said. Human rights activists and journalists are also said to be victims.
The executive was responding to allegations that governments used Pegasus to hack the phones of 37 people, including those of women close to murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. These targets were also on a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers in 2016 that included activists, journalists and politicians, although it is not clear that anyone beyond the 37 fell prey to attacks.
NSO strongly rejected the allegations of the hacks and the list, insisting that there is “no factual basis” and that the list was too long to focus solely on potential Pegasus targets. He also directly challenged Cathcart, asking if the WhatsApp executive had “other alternatives” to its tools that would help thwart “pedophiles, terrorists and criminals” using encrypted software.
Cathcart, however, did not believe this explanation – he pointed to the 1,400 people as possible evidence that the number of targets was “very high”. Whatever the truth, it’s safe to say that WhatsApp won’t hesitate to start its trial (or war of words) anytime soon.
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