US blacklisted Israeli companies

Washington: The US on Wednesday blacklisted Israel’s NSO Group. This is the same group that created Pegasus spyware. There was also a lot of discussion about the espionage scandal. Earlier in its investigation, a media consortium found that Pegasus was used to hack and spy on the phones of various politicians, businessmen, human rights activists and other celebrities around the world.

It was said that after the arrival of Pegasus in the smartphone, it had become a pocket spying device. Through this, the messages lying in the users’ phones could be easily read. Apart from this, the address of their location and the pictures already lying in the phone could also be seen. Not only this, through this the camera of their mobile phone could also be turned on without informing the users.

Apart from NSO, the US has also blacklisted three other companies. Washington also targeted Israeli company Candiru, Singapore-based Computer Security Initiative consultancy Pte and Russian firm Positive Technologies. After being included in the banned list, nothing can be bought from these companies in the US.

“These tools also enable foreign governments to conduct international repression, which is the practice of authoritarian governments targeting dissidents, journalists and activists outside their sovereign borders,” the US Commerce Department said in a statement. The department also claimed that these companies were involved in activities contrary to the interests of US national security or foreign policy.

In India too, the phone of many politicians, journalists and people associated with public life was claimed to be hacked through Israel’s Pegasus spyware. In the report, it was said that the phones of more than 150 people were hacked. At the same time, there was talk of monitoring at least 38 people in India. However, the Government of India had rejected these allegations outright.