Israel Govt conducts raids in Pegasus owner's offices

Tel Aviv: Israeli government authorities on Wednesday raided the offices of NSO Group after the Pegasus Project revealed that the spyware has been misused.

The Indian Express quoted an NSO spokesperson as told to Israeli news website 'The Record' that "representatives from the Israeli Ministry of Defence had visited their offices".

A consortium of 17 international media organisations exposed that multiple governments around the world used Pegasus spyware to unethically snoop on opposition leaders, businessmen, journalists, and human rights activists. 50,000 phone numbers were revealed to be targeted, and 300 of them were in India.

The spokesperson added that NSO Group is working in full transparency with the Israeli authorities. He stated the company is confident that this inspection will prove the facts are as declared repeatedly by the company against the false allegations.

After the Pegasus Project revelations, the Union government is being accused of snooping on Indian citizens. The Centre has repeatedly denied the allegations and called the list "sensational" and an attempt "to malign Indian democracy and its well-established institutions''.

The NSO Group only sells the spyware to governments and is designed to investigate criminal or terrorist activity.