NSO Group spyware used to hack at least nine US officials? phones ? report

The iPhones of at least nine US state department officials were recently hacked by a government using NSO Group spyware, according to a new report that raised serious questions about the use of Israeli surveillance tools against US government officials around the world.

The claim, which was reported by Reuters, comes just weeks after the Biden administration placed NSO on a US blacklist and said the surveillance company acted "contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US".

According to Reuters, at least nine state department officials were hacked in the attack over the last several months, and the individuals who were targeted were either based in Uganda or focused on matters concerning the east African country. Reuters said it could not determine which NSO client was behind the attack.

NEWA National Security Council spokesperson said in response to the Reuters report: "We have been acutely concerned that commercial spyware like NSO Group's software poses a serious counterintelligence and security risk to US personnel, which is one of the reasons why the Biden-Harris administration has placed several companies involved in the development and proliferation of these tools on the Department of Commerce's Entity List."

The news comes just days after Apple launched a lawsuit against NSO and reports emerged that the tech giant was beginning to alert victims around the world who had been compromised by the hacking tool. Once NSO's spyware - known as Pegasus - is successfully launched, it can hack into a mobile phone and intercept all communications, including encrypted messages. It can also turn any phone into a listening device, because once infected, a user of Pegasus can remotely control a mobile phone's recorder and camera.

In a statement released in response to the Reuters story, NSO said it had decided to "immediately terminate relevant customers' access to the system, due to the severity of the allegations".

Pressed by the Guardian to identify the customers who had been cut off, an NSO spokesperson said the company would not disclose information about its customers.