This is Pegasus: "Our program should only be used against terrorism and organized crime"

• Moncloa Pedro Sánchez declassifies his espionage in an attempt to deactivate pro-independence blackmail

• Pegasus The espionage to Sánchez and Robles, parallel to the crisis with Rabat and between denunciations of other countries against Morocco

"We are not familiar with the details of this specific case, but

's strong position is that the use of cyber tools to monitor politicians, dissidents, activists and journalists is a serious misuse of any technology and defeats its purpose. desired", they affirm to

from the Israeli company that created

.

And they add that NSO will cooperate with "any investigation into any suspected misuse."

According to the latest reports and reports, the sophisticated cyber-espionage program was

on the mobile phones of both the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, as well as Catalan independence leaders.

The flip side of Pegasus is that it helps prevent terrorist attacks, including one in recent years at the

.

Without wanting to go into detail about the latest revelations that have its pervasive cyberspy as its protagonist, NSO sources clarify: "We sell the

program exclusively to countries that agree to use it only for the fight against terrorism and organized crime ".

Given the various reports from

-the last one cited by

on the use of its technological instrument to spy on 60 politicians and pro-independence activists-, the company denounces that in recent years it has been the target of attacks by "a series of politically motivated organizations, many with well-known anti-Israeli biases, to produce inaccurate, incomplete and unsubstantiated reports.

At the headquarters of the already famous company in

(north of

) they consider that some allegations against the use of Pegasus by certain countries "are incorrect and in some cases impossible at a contractual and technical level."

Shortly before the scandal broke out in

and Barcelona, ​​this journalist asked an NSO spokesman if the Spanish government had acquired Pegasus and, if so, if he knew if it was used to spy on the former president of Parliament, Roger Torrent.

The answer back then is the same as today: "By contract and regulation we cannot confirm or deny that a country is or is not our client."

As a rule, the company must know in advance which State/client Intelligence agency is in charge of using and taking advantage of Pegasus's enormous espionage capacity.

Once the system is sold to the interested country, NSO can cease its operation if it concludes, after an official investigation, that it violates the signed contract due to misuse.

In at least seven cases, the program was "turned off" for this reason and the client was no longer a client.

The company ensures that its products are sold under license and regulation following court orders and local laws of the purchasing countries.

But one thing is the theory and the other is the practice marked by the grays of the performance of the secret services.

"We do not use the technology nor do we have access to the data collected by the country. It is as if I manufactured a car and sold it to you. The responsibility lies with the driver", add the NSO sources who, like the rest of the companies in Israeli cybersecurity needs the green light from the Ministry of Defense to sell its systems to a country.

In the face of international criticism as a result of media and NGO complaints against Pegasus in the last year, Defense Minister

announced a toughening of the regulation process for said companies, especially "attack" companies.

And Pegasus is the quintessential penetration weapon.

Half a year ago, the

included this company in its blacklist, claiming that Pegasus was used by foreign governments as a tool to follow dissidents, journalists and activists.

In recent months, it has been reported that Israeli and US citizens have also been spied on with this program.

The executive director and one of the three founders of NSO,

, declared to Channel 12 last January: "Whoever makes use of our systems for purposes other than preventing terrorist attacks or criminal acts of organized crime is a criminal." .

technological weapon

Pegasus is

that is inserted into a mobile phone and sucks up all its information (from calls to messages and contacts) without the user knowing that they are being spied on or the spy knowing where they are and who they are talking to.

Since it has the ability to control from a distance, it can activate its camera or recorder, reaching a level of information that in certain cases can abort an attack, but also monitor an opponent of the government that bought it.

It is an advanced technological weapon with different degrees of penetration.

Its correct use saves lives.

Its incorrect use supposes a flagrant violation of the basic rights of a citizen, be it an activist, journalist or ruler.

NSO was created in 2010. Like many

, was born out of necessity and thanks to perfect

(massive emergence of smartphones) and the ability of entrepreneurs.

The embryo of Pegasus was a system that penetrated the mobile phone with the user's permission to activate it remotely and help him learn about its functions and solve faults.

This customer service soon became a powerful and requested tool for Intelligence services around the world who were looking for an invisible and effective system capable of breaking the armored defenses around telephone conversations or messaging applications created by suspects or also called " objectives".

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Know more

• Margaret Oaks

• Ministry of Defence

• Benny Gantz

• Roger Torrent

• Barcelona

• Pedro Sanchez

• THE WORLD