Israeli police used Pegasus software for hacking smartphones of protest leaders against the former Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister, reports the Israeli newspaper Calcalist.
Spyware was used to hack former civil servants, mayors and civil leaders from among citizens who supported protests. The police did not request a necessary warrant warrant, surveillance or data collection, all the actions of law enforcement officers took place without a court decision.
The program was issued by the Israeli company NSO Group. The developer declares that it provides “authorized government governments that help them fight terrorism and crime.” Pegasus infects the devices through messengers and email, and allows you to extract messages, photos, correspondence, contacts and GPS data, as well as write calls and imperceptibly include a microphone and camera.
The publication reported that there are no controlled supervision of the data collected and the use of their other interested departments, such as tax administrations or management on Israel’s securities.
Protests against Netanyahu took place throughout 2020, when the Pandemic COVID-19 struck the country and the first restrictions were introduced. In connection with the permanent increase in the level of concern, efforts were made to reduce protests through judicial and procedural tools.
After that, the police began to use software for individuals who were not criminals or suspected. Presumably, this was engaged in a special intelligence unit, all the activities of which is confidential. In addition to hacking political activists, Pegasus was used to search for evidence in anti-corruption affairs against bribes and fraudsters.
In December 2021, researchers from the Supervisory Group Citizen Lab in Toronto were caught by Poland’s authorities to use Israeli on Pegasus for surveillance for political opposition representatives.
previously it became known that smartphones of five French ministers were infected with PEGASUS and listened. In 2019 and 2020, Pegasus traces on the devices of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers were revealed by the France special services.