The British newspaper, The Guardian, quoted its sources, as saying that the Israeli company NSO made a modification to the “Pegasus” software, which prevents countries using it from spying on phones originating from Britain, after using this software to spy. On the phones of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein and her British lawyer, Fiona Shackleton.

And the newspaper added in a report that the Israeli company made a quick update to impose strict restrictions that prevent any user of Pegasus from employing it to hack phones registered in Britain, and users of the Israeli spy software can no longer use it to hack phones registered in the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The Israeli company’s decision came after the British Supreme Court concluded last Wednesday that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had instructed him to spy on the phones of his ex-wife, Princess Haya, her lawyer and her security team, using the “Pegasus” software, against the background of the lawsuit. The ongoing judicial process in London between Princess Haya and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid regarding the sponsorship of their two children.

cancel a contract

During the lawsuit hearings, the court heard that NSO canceled its contract with the UAE for violating its rules regarding the use of the Pegasus system, which is used to collect data from the mobile phones of suspected criminals or terrorists.

The company said it had shut down six systems of former clients with contracts worth more than $300 million, without giving any details.


The management of the International Security Exhibition in London announced at the end of last month that the spyware company "NSO" would not display or promote the Pegasus program, which has been proven to be used by governments to spy on activists and opponents.

This confirmation came after a message from human rights organizations - including the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Britain - in addition to some victims who demanded that the exhibition management withdraw its invitation to the Israeli company.

The signatories pointed to the role played by the espionage program in facilitating widespread human rights violations that took place in the past and could be repeated in the future, according to the letter.

Investigation

An investigation conducted by 17 media organizations and published its results last July, revealed that the Pegasus spy program was used to penetrate the phones of journalists, officials and activists in different parts of the world.

The investigation - which was conducted by prominent international media, including the French "Le Monde", the German "Süddeutsche Zeitung", the British "The Guardian", and the "Washington Post" (The Washington Post) was based. Washington Post - to a list obtained by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International.

The list included the numbers of at least 180 journalists, 600 politicians, 85 human rights activists and 65 businessmen, according to the analysis conducted by the group, and it was confirmed that 37 phones were hacked or attempted to penetrate the Israeli group's spyware program.

In July, a list of up to 50,000 phone numbers believed to be from people NSO considered to be of interest was leaked since 2016.