Report: U.S. used front company to buy Israeli spyware
The Israeli tech firm NSO makes hacking tools that are used across the globe. Photo by Getty Images
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
The United States government is an active client of the Israeli offensive cyber firm NSO Group, known for its infamous Pegasus spyware, according to a report by the New York Times.
The Times’ investigation, published early Monday, revealed that five days after the Biden administration announced the blacklisting of NSO for activities contrary to the United States’ national security or foreign policy interests, the U.S. purchased a different software from NSO via a front company.
The software is known as “Landmark,” a geolocation system that reveals the exact location of a person by inputting their phone number.
The report comes one week after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning the use of commercial spyware by the American government. The ban applies to “operational” use that pose a “risk” to American national security, specifically counterintelligence.
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