(New York) Israeli controversial spyware company Pegasus said Friday it has opened an investigation after news reports that its software was used to spy on US diplomats in Africa.
Apple has warned the people concerned that their phones are being targeted by this software that allows accessing files, listening to conversations or tracking movements, according to the information.
Pending customers
In a letter sent to AFP, the NSO Group indicated that it had already suspended potentially affected clients “because of the seriousness of the charges”, without specifying who they were.
The group asserts that it has not “currently received any information, phone number, or indication that NSO software has been used in this business.” But he says he is willing to “cooperate with any competent government authority and share all the information in his possession”.
This summer, an international media group revealed that Pegasus made it possible to spy on numbers of journalists, politicians, activists or businessmen from different countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
But US diplomats seem to have survived, not least because Pegasus, according to the NSO, is designed not to be used on numbers beginning with +1, the telephone code for the United States.
US diplomats in Uganda
According to the Daily Washington Post According to Reuters, Pegasus has already been used to hack the iPhones of at least nine foreign ministry employees who are based in Uganda or primarily work on issues related to East Africa.
Washington had added the NSO Group to its list of banned companies in early November.
The iPhone maker, which recently filed a lawsuit in the United States against NSO Group to permanently ban the Israeli company’s software on its devices, declined to comment on Friday.
Shortly after its discovery this summer, it fixed a computer vulnerability exploited by Pegasus that allowed spying on people without users even having to click on trapped links or messages.
Apple had indicated at the time of its complaint that it would notify a “small number” of users who may have been targeted by this type of attack.
