The US Department of Commerce announced today that it has added NSO Group, the Israeli company that developed the Pegasus spy software, to its blacklist on the grounds that the company poses a threat to US national security.
The NSO came to the fore this summer following revelations from investigations by a consortium of 17 international media outlets that Pegasus allegedly allowed espionage against journalists, politicians, activists and even heads of state, including French President Emancipation. .
These computer programs “enabled foreign governments to carry out repression across their borders (…) to silence any dissenting voices,” the US government said in a statement.
Reacting, the NSO said it was “stunned” by the decision.
“The NSO group is stunned by the US decision” and “will work to ensure that this decision is changed,” a spokesman for the Tel Aviv-based company told AFP, adding that the Israeli company had a “Strict Charter of Ethics Based on American Values.”
The ministry also blacklisted another Israeli company (Candiru), a Russian company (Positive technology) and a Singaporean company (Computer Security Initiative Consultancy PTE).
“The United States is determined to use export controls decisively to hold accountable companies that develop, commercialize or use malicious technologies that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society or governments, dissidents and organizations based here and abroad. “, Noted the Minister of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
This blacklist restricts business transactions with companies included in it.
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