Security News > 2021 > July > Amnesty International and French media protection org claim massive misuse of NSO spyware
Amnesty International and French journalism advocacy organisation Forbidden Stories say they've acquired a leaked list of individuals targeted by users of Israeli spyware-for-law-enforcement operator NSO Group, and that Heads of State, academics, diplomats, human rights advocates, and media figures are among those targeted.
Perhaps the most explosive claim is that NSO products were used to target family members of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the days before he was murdered in Istanbul.
"Agnès Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, wrote that the leaked document and subsequent investigation"blow apart any claims by NSO that such attacks are rare and down to rogue use of their technology.
Amnesty and Forbidden Stories have worked with several international media outlets, and all promise many more days of coverage on NSO Group and how its wares were used to surveil inappropriate targets.
NSO Group has disputed the allegations made by Amnesty and Forbidden Stories.
The core of the company's response is that conclusions of rampant misuse are "Based on misleading interpretation of data from accessible and overt basic information, such as HLR Lookup services, which have no bearing on the list of the customers targets of Pegasus or any other NSO products".