FBI confirms it obtained NSO’s Pegasus spyware

The FBI has confirmed that it obtained NSO Group's powerful Pegasus spyware, suggesting that it bought access to the Israeli surveillance tool to "stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft".

In a statement released to the Guardian, the bureau said it had procured a "limited licence" to access Pegasus for "product testing and evaluation only", and suggested that its evaluation of the tool partly related to security concerns if the spyware fell into the "wrong hands".

The bureau also claimed it had never used Pegasus in support of any FBI investigation. "There was no operational use in support of any investigation, the FBI procured a limited licence for product testing and evaluation only," it said.

The statement marks a direct acknowledgment by the FBI that it acquired Pegasus, one of the world's most sophisticated hacking tools.

The FBI's procurement of Pegasus, which occurred in 2019 under the Trump administration, was first reported by the New York Times.

It was a stunning revelation in part because the Biden administration has recently placed NSO on a commerce department blacklist, saying it had evidence that the company's hacking tools had enabled governments around the world to conduct "transnational repression", targeting dissidents and journalists.

The Guardian and other media organisations have reported multiple cases in which security researchers say governments have used NSO's tools to target American citizens around the world, including Carine Kanimba, the daughter of the jailed Rwandan dissident Paul Rusesabagina, and Lama Fakih, a senior staff member of Human Rights Watch in Beirut.