JERUSALEM: Israel has downgraded the list of countries eligible to buy its cyber technologies after concerns over possible misuse abroad of hacking tools sold by Israeli firm NSO Group, Israel’s CalcList financial newspaper reported on Thursday.
The newspaper, which did not disclose its sources, said Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates were among the countries that would now be barred from importing Israeli cyber technology. The list of countries licensed to purchase it was reduced from 102 to just 37 states.
Countries that are allowed to export cybertech includes India. The other 36 countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.
Israel’s Defense Ministry responded to the report, saying in a statement that it takes “appropriate steps” when the terms of use set out in the export license are violated, but was restrained from confirming the cancellation of any licenses. Is.
Israel has been under pressure to rein in spyware exports since July, when a group of international news organizations reported that NSO’s Pegasus tool was used to hack the phones of journalists, government officials and rights activists in several countries. Was.
Those reports prompted Israel to review the cyber export policy administered by the Defense Ministry.
Morocco and the UAE, which normalized ties with Israel last year, as well as Saudi Arabia and Mexico, were among countries where Pegasus was given political surveillance, according to Amnesty International and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab that studies surveillance. has been linked to.
NSO has denied any wrongdoing, saying it only sells its equipment to governments and law enforcement agencies and has safeguards in place to prevent misuse.
Earlier this month, US officials placed NSO on a trade blacklist for selling spyware to governments that abused it. The company said it was disappointed with the decision, as its technologies “support US national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime”.
NSO has also faced lawsuits and criticism from big tech firms, who accuse it of exposing its customers to hacking. Apple Inc. was the latest to sue NSO.
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