The Israeli government appears to be calling on Pegasus–invented by the notorious spyware company NSO Group–to assist in the tracking of its hostages taken by Hamas last month, reported American media outlet “Axios” on Tuesday.
NSO has been chastised for supplying governments with surveillance equipment, which they in turn have used to spy on journalists, dissidents, and human rights activists in a multitude of nations.
According to NSO, various Israeli agencies are likely utilizing Pegasus — a “zero-click” spyware which can be installed on a target’s device without the owner’s knowledge — to assist in tracking down those abducted by Hamas, as well as people who went missing during Hamas’ strike last month.
Pegasus may be used to tap into cell phone signals to determine who was on the ground during Hamas’ surprise strike on Oct. 7, as well as the movement of those cell signals before and after the attack.
NSO has also developed a “war room” with other similar firms and former NSO personnel to trace and unlock phones belonging to those who have been murdered or gone missing, as well as those belonging to Hamas.
“It’s not the purpose of why we’re doing it, but I think the people from the government — both in Israel and outside of Israel — and the public… now understand much better the value of these kinds of tools and why they are needed,” reported Axios from its sources.
Pegasus was used to eavesdrop on Palestinian human rights activists as recently as 2021. In 2020, another unnamed entity utilized Pegasus to spy on dozens of Al Jazeera reporters.