Pegasus hacking: Macron calls nat’l security meeting

PARIS/JERUSALEM : French President Emmanuel Macron has called an urgent national security meeting on Thursday to discuss the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware after reports about its use in France emerged this week, a government spokesman said.

“The president is following this subject closely and takes it very seriously,” Gabriel Attal told France Inter radio, adding that the unscheduled national security meeting would be “dedicated to the Pegasus issue and the question of cybersecurity”.

A consortium of media companies reported on Tuesday that one of Macron’s phone numbers and those of many cabinet ministers were on a leaked list of potential Pegasus targets.

The newspapers said they had been unable to confirm whether an attempted or successful hacking had taken place without forensically analysing the president’s phone.

Evidence of an attempted hacking was found on the device of former environment minister and close Macron ally Francois de Rugy, with the attempt allegedly originating in Morocco.

The NSO Group has denied that Macron was among the targets of its clients.

Merkel urges controls; Israel eyes export curbs

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged tighter international controls on the trade in spyware on Thursday when asked about the reports of widespread use of the Pegasus software. Merkel also said it was “important” that “software configured in this way should not land in the wrong hands”.

She called for “very restrictive conditions” on the trade in such spyware in countries in which surveillance operations are not tightly regulated, for example by independent courts.

Israel’s parliamentary review panel may recommend changes to defence export policy over allegations that spyware sold by Israeli cyber firm NSO Group has been abused in several countries, a senior lawmaker said on Thursday.

“We certainly have to look anew at this whole subject of licences granted by DECA,” Ram Ben-Barak, head of the Knesset foreign affairs and defence committee, told Israel’s Army Radio, referring to the Defence Export Controls Agency. He also said proper use of Pegasus had “helped a great many people”.