Israel to examine tighter controls on export of spywares like Pegasus

An Israeli commission reviewing allegations that NSO Groups Pegasus spyware was misused by its customers to target journalists and human rights activists would examine whether rules for Israels export of cyberweapons such as Pegasus should be tightened a senior MP said The Guardian reportedThe move comes after French President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency cybersecurity meeting following reports that his mobile phone and those of government ministers appeared in the leaked listAn official in Macrons Elysee Palace said that the Presidents phone and phone numbers had been changed The German chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice to the escalating controversy on Thursday telling reporters in Berlin that spyware such as NSOs should be denied to countries where there was no judicial oversight after it emerged 14 heads of state were on the list the report addedAsked whether she regretted that technology sold by NSO Group had helped to undermine freedom of expression in countries governed by autocratic regimes Merkel said I believe it is important that software developed for certain situations does not fall into the wrong hands There have to be restrictive conditions and such software should not be sold to countries where judicial oversight over such attacks cannot be guaranteedThe growing fallout from the revelations of the Pegasus project a collaboration of 17 media organisations including The Guardian which launched on Sunday with a series of claims about misuse of the software has continued to resonateAlso Read All allegations all fingerpointing should be at the customer Pegasus spyware sellerIn Israel the prospect of tighter controls on the export of spyware such as Pegasus was raised by Ram BenBarak the head of parliaments foreign affairs and defence committee and a former deputy head of the Mossad spy agency on Army Radio as he disclosed that Israels defence establishment has appointed a review commission made up of a number of groups The Guardian saidWe certainly have to look anew at this whole subject of licenses granted by DECA Israels Defence Exports Control Agency When they finish their review well demand to see the results and assess whether we need to make corrections he saidDECA is within Israels defence ministry and oversees NSO exports The ministry and the company have said Pegasus is meant to be used to track terrorists and criminals only and that all foreign clients are vetted governmentsThe alleged misuse has stirred questions within Naftali Bennets crosspartisan coalition one of whose members the liberal party Meretz questioned the defence minister Benny Gantz about NSO exports in a meeting on Thursday the report added Gantz emphasised the importance of upholding human rights within the framework of weapons sales a joint statement saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever