'Malicious Cyber Activities': Why US Blacklisted Israel's NSO Group That Owns Pegasus Spyware

Three other companies also on the US trade blacklist include Israel’s Candiru, Positive Technologies of Russia, and Singapore’s Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE LTD

A file studio photo illustration of a smartphone with the website of Israel's NSO Group, which features 'Pegasus' spyware, on display | Photo: AFP

New Delhi: The United States has added NSO Group, the Israeli firm that owns the controversial Pegasus spyware, and three other companies to its trade blacklist for “malicious cyber activities”. 

The decision means exports to the companies from their US counterparts are now restricted. 

A US State Department spokesperson said they are not taking action against “countries or governments where these entities are located”, Reuters reported.

The three other companies named on the ‘Entity List’ include Israel’s Candiru, Positive Technologies of Russia, and Singapore’s Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE LTD.

NSO Group and Candiru were added to the list because they “developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used these tools to maliciously target” government officials, activists, academics, journalists and others, the US Department Of Commerce statement said in a statement earlier this week.

“These tools have also enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression, which is the practice of authoritarian governments targeting dissidents, journalists and activists outside of their sovereign borders to silence dissent,” it said, adding that such practices “threaten the rules-based international order”.  

About Positive Technologies, and Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE. LTD, the department said they “traffic in cyber tools used to gain unauthorized access to information systems, threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide”. 

“The United States is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo said.

NSO Group ‘Dismayed’

The NSO Group has expressed dismay at the decision, the Reuters report said.

The company claims to sell products only to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and that it also takes steps to curb abuse.

Quoting an NSO spokesperson, the Reuters report said the company’s technologies "support U.S. national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime”. The spokesperson also said they would want this reversed.

The NSO Group found itself at the centre of a controversy a few months ago when global investigative reports, including India’s The Wire, found that Pegasus was allegedly used to carry out or attempt surveillance on the phones used by government and opposition leaders, journalists, activists and lawyers, among others. 

In an e-mailed response to Reuters, the NSO spokesperson said the company will present information regarding its compliance and human rights programmes, "which already resulted in multiple terminations of contacts with government agencies that misused our products".

While Candiru and the Singapore firm have not come out with any statement on the US blacklist, Positive Technologies told Reuters they do not know on what grounds they were added to the list.