Israel has cut the list of countries licensed to buy network technology to just 37 from 102 (File)
Jerusalem:
Israel has slashed the list of countries eligible to buy its cyber technologies after concerns over the potential overseas abuse of hacking tools sold by Israeli company NSO Group, financial newspaper Calcalist reports. of Israel reported on Thursday.
The newspaper, which did not disclose sources, said that Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates are among the countries that will now be banned from importing Israeli cyber technology. The list of countries licensed to buy it has been cut to just 37 states, down from 102.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense, responding to the report, in a statement said it would take “appropriate steps” when the terms of use set out in the export license the country issued were violated, but did stop confirming any license has been revoked.
Israel has been under pressure to rein in spyware exports since July, when a group of international news organizations reported that the NSO’s Pegasus tool was used to infiltrate the phones of publishers. journalists, government officials and human rights activists in several countries.
Those reports have prompted Israel to reconsider its cyber export policy administered by the Ministry of Defense.
Morocco and the UAE, both of which normalized relations with Israel last year, as well as Saudi Arabia and Mexico are among the countries where Pegasus has been implicated in political surveillance, according to Amnesty International and University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, where surveillance research is done.
NSO has denied any wrongdoing, saying it only sells its tools to governments and law enforcement agencies and has safeguards in place to prevent misuse.
Earlier this month, US officials put NSO on a trade blacklist for selling spyware to governments that abuse it. The company said it was disappointed by the decision, as its technologies “support the national security policies and interests of the United States by deterring terrorism and crime”.
NSO has also faced lawsuits and criticism from major tech companies, who allege it exposed their customers to hacks. Apple Inc is the latest to sue NSO this week.
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