Security News > 2021 > November > US Bans Trade With Pegasus Spyware Maker

NSO Group - the Israeli-based maker of the notorious, military-grade Pegasus spyware that's been linked to cyberattacks against dissidents, activists and NGOs at the hands of repressive regimes - has been blacklisted by the United States.

NSO Group is one of four spyware developers or traffickers that the U.S. Commerce Department added to its "Entity List" on Wednesday, effectively banning trade with the company.

NSO Group's blacklisting is likely the least surprising of the four new Entity List entries, given the history of its spyware repeatedly being used to target civil society and government officials.

NSO Group is dismayed by the decision given that our technologies support US national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime, and thus we will advocate for this decision to be reversed.

As the New York Times reported, regardless of NSO Group's claims, its spyware keeps appearing "On the phones of journalists, critics of autocratic regimes, even children. Some of NSO's targets - like Ahmed Mansoor, a critic of the United Arab Emirates - have been imprisoned and held in solitary confinement for years after NSO's spyware was found on their phones."

It's apparently right to be concerned: Besides all of the journalists and activists who've allegedly been surveilled by foreign governments using NSO's spyware, the mobile phone of a senior U.S. diplomat, Robert Malley, was also found on a leaked list of individuals selected as potential targets of surveillance by NSO's clients, as The Guardian has reported.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/pegasus-spyware-blacklisted-us/175999/