Israel Authorized Sale of Spyware to Saudi Arabia: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Israeli regime authorized cyber-company NSO to sell surveillance software to Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post reported, citing two former top US security officials.
The two American sources told the Post that the Saudis worked through a Luxembourg-based affiliate of NSO called Q Cyber Technologies.
Q Cyber promised the Saudis access to targets in six Middle Eastern countries and directly assisted them in solving problems with the cyber-monitoring systems that they provided, the report said.
Sources said Tel Aviv authorized the transaction despite certain Israeli officials' hesitations over granting Arab regimes access to such technology. Three sources said that the Saudis were interested in the Pegasus advanced surveillance program.
The report comes after certain Saudi dissident figures revealed to the media how their phones had been hacked as part of the Saudi government’s extensive use of Pegasus.
Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi activist based on Montreal, Canada, has launched a legal action against the NSO after it was revealed that it was the hacking of his phone conversations and chats with slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that led to his assassination in Turkey in early October.
“The hacking of my phone played a major role in what happened to Jamal, I am really sorry to say,” said Abdulaziz in an interview with the CNN.
