![]() ![]() A dual French national living in Jerusalem, Hammouri previously served a seven-year sentence for security offenses, and Israel considers him a PFLP operative, allegations he denies. The phone of the third named hacking victim, Hammouri, was apparently compromised in April, the researchers said. “As human rights defenders living under occupation, we expect it was the (Israeli) occupation,” Halaika said when asked who he believed was behind the hack. Al-Haq engages in sensitive communications with the International Criminal Court, among others, involving alleged human rights abuses. 16 by Halaika, whose phone was determined to have been hacked in July 2020. ![]() “If the Israeli government refuses to take action then this should have consequences in terms of the regulation of trade with Israel,” he said via email.Īl-Maskati, the researcher who discovered the hacks, said he was first alerted on Oct. The executive director of Frontline Defenders, Andrew Anderson, said the NSO Group cannot be trusted to ensure its spyware is not used illegally by its customers and says Israel should face international reproach if it does not bring the company to heel. “We will continue our work, continue providing services.” “Of course we are not going to close our organizations,” Francis said. Addameer director Sahar Francis called for an international investigation. “This actually complicates the relationship of the government with NSO,” said Altshuler, if the government is indeed both a client and regulator in a relationship conducted under secrecy.Īboudi, along with representatives from Al-Haq and Addameer, held a press conference in the occupied West Bank on Monday in which they condemned the hacks as an attack on civil society. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a legal expert at the Israel Democracy Institute, called the findings “really disturbing,” especially if it is proven that Israel’s security agencies, who are largely exempt from the country’s privacy laws, have been using NSO Group’s commercial spyware. Aboudi served a 12-month sentence last year after being convicted of charges of involvement in the PFLP but denies ever belonging to the group. Israel and Western governments consider the PFLP a terror group. Israel says the groups are linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist political faction with an armed wing that has killed Israelis. The researchers’ examination of Aboudi’s phone determined it was infected by Pegasus in February.Īboudi accused Israel of “sticking the terrorist logo” on the groups after failing to persuade European governments and others to cut off financial support. ![]() He was especially concerned about eavesdroppers being privy to his communications with foreign diplomats. NSO Group has also said it doesn’t target U.S. That led them to question claims by NSO Group that exported versions of Pegasus cannot be used to hack Israeli phone numbers. But four of the six hacked iPhones exclusively used SIM cards issued by Israeli telecom companies with Israeli +972 area code numbers, said the Citizen Lab and Amnesty researchers. It’s not known precisely when or how the phones were violated, the security researchers said. ![]() Israel’s Defense Ministry approves the export of spyware produced by NSO Group and other private Israeli companies that recruit from the country’s top cyber-capable military units. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters. The statement had no other details, and officials declined requests for further comment. technology.Īsked about the allegations its software was used against the Palestinian activists, NSO Group said in a statement that it does not identify its customers for contractual and national security reasons, is not privy to whom they hack and sells only to government agencies for use against “serious crime and terror.”Īn Israeli defense official said in a brief statement that the designation of the six organizations was based on solid evidence and that any claim it is related to the use of NSO software is unfounded. Last week, the Biden administration blacklisted the NSO Group and a lesser-known Israeli competitor, Candiru, barring them from U.S. The forensic findings, independently confirmed by security researchers from Amnesty International and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab in a joint technical report, come as NSO Group faces growing condemnation over the abuse of its spyware and Israel takes heat for lax oversight of its digital surveillance industry. The others do not, and wish to remain anonymous, Frontline Defenders says. Three of the hacked Palestinians work for the civil society groups. Israel has provided little evidence publicly to support the terrorism designation, which the Palestinian groups say aims to dry up their funding and muzzle opposition to Israeli military rule. ![]()
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