Israel cuts list of countries that can buy systems hacking technology

Israel cut the list of countries that can buy your technology of hacking electronic systems after suffering criticism over abuses promoted with a tool marketed by the Israeli company NSO Group, published the local newspaper Calcalist.

The newspaper published this Thursday (25) without revealing its sources that Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are among the countries banned from importing cyber technologies, which includes the Israeli tool aimed at invading and monitoring digital systems . The list of countries that can buy products from the country in the area was reduced from 102 to 37.

Israel’s military ministry, responding to the newspaper, said it takes “appropriate measures” when the terms of licenses to use exported products are violated, but has not confirmed whether any export permits have been revoked.

Israel has been under pressure to curb its exports of computer hacking software since July, when a group of international news organizations reported that the NSO’s Pegasus tool was being used to intercept the phones of journalists, government officials and human rights activists. in many countries.

Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Israel last year, as well as Saudi Arabia and Mexico are among the countries where Pegasus has been linked to political monitoring, according to information from Amnesty International and the Citizenship Laboratory at the University of Toronto.

The NSO has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that it sells its spy tools only to governments and security agencies and that it has safeguards in place to prevent their misuse.