News of the World

[kyonides]

Massive data leak uncovers
human rights abuses using Israeli tech

An investigation into a massive data leak by the Guardian and 16 other media organizations published on Sunday suggests "widespread and continuing abuse" of the Israeli company NSO Group's hacking spyware, Pegasus, by authoritarian governments around the world.
While the company highlights its successes in blocking ISIS terror attacks and cracking drug and pornography rings in Europe, Africa and Oceania, critics have long said its software has also been used to abuse human rights in Mexico, Morocco and elsewhere.
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The leak contains a list of over 50,000 phone numbers that the report estimated were identified as "people of interest" by NSO clients since 2016.
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The Guardian also reported that forensics analysis of some phones whose numbers appeared on the list showed more than half had traces of the Pegasus spyware.
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Forensic analysis of his device by Amnesty International stated conclusively that Panyi's phone had been repeatedly compromised by Pegasus during a seven-month period in 2019, with the infection often coming soon after comment requests made by Panyi to Hungarian government officials.
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Also revealed to be on the list was freelance Mexican reporter Cecilio Pineda Birto, a freelance reporter who was murdered in March of 2017, only a few hours after he broadcast on Facebook live accusing state police and local politicians of colluding with a violent local capo known as El Tequilero.
While his phone was selected as a possible target for surveillance by a Mexican NSO client, it disappeared from the scene of his murder, making it impossible to determine whether the phone had indeed been infected with Pegasus.
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The report also reportedly uncovered new evidence that NSO spyware was used to try and monitor people close to Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi both before and after his death.

 Yeah, they are mere coincidences, right NSO?