"Will not play along with the vicious and slanderous campaign", says Pegasus maker NSO

Israel based NSO group - the maker of Pegasus spyware which has been allegedly used by nations across the world for snooping on politicians, journalists, government officials, activists, judiciary, on Wednesday said that it will not play along with the vicious and slanderous campaign.

New Delhi: Israel based NSO group - the maker of Pegasus spyware which has been allegedly used by nations across the world for snooping on politicians, journalists, government officials, activists, judiciary, on Wednesday said that it will not play along with the vicious and slanderous campaign. In a strongly-worded statement, an NSO spokesperson said, "NSO is announcing it will no longer be responding to media inquiries on this matter and it will not play along with the vicious and slanderous campaign".

The shocking revelations by a consortium of media organisations since the weekend, NSO said, was a planned and well-orchestrated media campaign lead by forbidden stories and pushed by special interest groups. NSO, which claims it supplies its software only to vetted governments for control of terrorism and crime, today reiterated that "The list is not a list of targets or potential targets of Pegasus".

"The numbers in the list are not related to the 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", a spokesperson added. The company said, "enough is enough", and that NSO will thoroughly investigate any credible proof of misuse of its technologies, "as we always had, and will shut down the system where necessary", it said.

"NSO is a technology company. We do not operate the system, nor do we have access to the data of our customers, yet they are obligated to provide us with such information under investigation", NSO stated. NSO said it will continue its mission of saving lives, helping governments around the world prevent terror attacks, break up paedophilia, sex, and drug-trafficking rings, locate missing and kidnapped children, locate survivors trapped under collapsed buildings, and protect airspace against disruptive penetration by dangerous drones.

Among the potential targets were several world leaders including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, French President Emmanuel Macron and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and hundreds of government officials, who were potential targets of Pegasus. In India, the spyware has been used to snoop into more than 40 journalists, opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi and two ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa to name a few.

The biggest revelations which coincided with the first day of the Parliament monsoon session set off a political tussle between the centre and the opposition. However, amid much chaos and protests by the opposition over various issues including the Pegasus issue, Loksabha proceedings have been adjourned till Thursday.