ISRAELI OFFICIALS INSPECT OFFICE OF NSO GROUP AMID SNOOPING ROW

NEW DELHI: Israeli authorities have conducted an inspection of the office of the cybersecurity firm NSO Group, following a series of investigative reports about the misuse of its Pegasus spyware around the world.

The inspection was announced on Wednesday in a tweet in Hebrew by the Israeli defence ministry’s official Twitter account, which said: “Representatives from a number of bodies came to NSO today to examine the publications and allegations raised in its case.”

The defence ministry didn’t identify the bodies that visited the NSO Group office or give more details. Israeli news website Calcalist, which first reported the inspection, described it as a “raid”. Reports said officials inspected the firm’s office at Herzliya near Tel Aviv.

NSO Group confirmed the inspection in a statement.

“We can confirm that representatives from the Israeli Ministry of Defense visited our offices. We welcome their inspection.”

The firm, which has already denied the allegations of unauthorised surveillance of mobile phones using its spyware, said it is “working in full transparency with the Israeli authorities”.

“We are confident that this inspection will prove the facts are as declared repeatedly by the company against the false allegations made against us in the recent media attacks,” it added.

An international media consortium last week began publishing reports based on what is believed to be a leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers worldwide that were potentially targeted by NSO’s customers for surveillance.

Evidence of the Pegasus spyware or of attempts to hack was found on 37 of 67 phones that were examined, including in 10 phones in India.