Pegasus Maker NSO, on Wednesday, 21 July, said that they will investigate any credible proof of misuse.
According to NDTV, NSO said:
"Will investigate any credible proof of misuse of technologies, shut down the system where necessary."
However, the developer, as per NDTV, also said that they will no longer be responding to media inquiries, alleging that the expose by 17 news organisations across the world was a "planned and well-orchestrated media campaign lead by Forbidden Stories and pushed by special interest groups".
A report published by news organisations across the world on Sunday, 18 July, revealed that Israel-made spyware Pegasus was believed to have been used to snoop on at least 300 Indian phone numbers, including those of several journalists, politicians, government officials and rights activists. 14 world leaders, out of which at least seven are still in power, also reportedly became potential targets of the spyware.
WHAT ELSE DID THE NSO SAY?
NSO, on Wednesday, once again claimed that the list is "not a list of targets or potential targets of Pegasus. The numbers in the list are not related to NSO group. Any claim that a name in the list is necessarily related to a Pegasus target or Pegasus potential target is erroneous and false".
Further, according to NDTV, the company said "enough is enough" and that it would no longer "play along with the vicious and slanderous campaign".
ISRAEL SETS UP TEAM TO LOOK INTO ALLEGATIONS
Prior to this, news agency Reuters, citing an Israeli source, had reported that Israel has formulated a senior inter-ministerial team to look into allegations that the Israeli spyware - NSO Group’s Pegasus software - has been abused globally.
“The objective is to find out what happened, to look into this issue and learn lessons,” the unnamed source told Reuters.
The inter-ministerial team is headed by Israel’s National Security Council, reported Reuters, citing its source.
(With inputs from NDTV and Reuters.)
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