NSO cannot sell to non-govt actors: Gilon

Naor Gilon, the newly-appointed Israeli Ambassador to India, informed on Thursday that companies like NSO, the creator of the controversial Pegasus spyware, cannot sell their products to non-government factors. Gilon was addressing a press conference on questions pertaining to unauthorized surveillance using NSO Group's Pegasus spyware.

Gilon further added that the issue in India over Pegasus is an internal matter of the country. "I will not go into more details...NSO is a private Israeli company. Every export of NSO or such companies need an export licence of the Israeli government. We grant this export licence only for exporting to governments," he said.

"This is the only main requirement that they cannot...under the requirements, they cannot sell it to non-governmental actors. What's happening here in India is an internal thing for India," he said.

An international investigative consortium had revealed earlier that several including ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists were potentially targeted by the spyware.

The Supreme Court has set up a three-member independent expert panel to probe the allegations of targeted surveillance. The top court slammed that the state cannot get a free pass every time claiming 'national security. The mere invocation of national security cannot render the judiciary a mute spectator, the top court said.