Project Pegasus: Israel government raids NSO offices

An NSO spokesperson said they are confident that the inspection will prove the facts are as declared repeatedly by the company against the false allegations made against them in the recent media attacks.

Israeli government authorities have raided the offices of NSO Group following revelations by a consortium of media organisations that the surveillance software vendor’s Pegasus spyware was used by multiple governments around the world to snoop on public figures and opposition leaders among others.

The raids took place Wednesday.

An NSO spokesperson confirmed to Israeli news website ‘The Record’ that “representatives from the Israeli Ministry of Defence had visited their offices”.

“The company is working in full transparency with the Israeli authorities. We are confident that this inspection will prove the facts are as declared repeatedly by the company against the false allegations made against us in the recent media attacks,” the spokesperson added.

Recently, a global collaborative investigative project has revealed that the Pegasus spyware targeted over 300 mobile phone numbers in India, including that of Ministers in the Narendra Modi government, various Opposition leaders, a constitutional authority, and several journalists and business persons.

The numbers of Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel and Railways & IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also featured in the list. Amid massive uproar over the issue by Opposition parties, the government has denied allegations that the Pegasus spyware was being used to snoop on politicians, journalists and a constitutional authority. It has also called the report “sensational”, and an attempt “to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”.

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