Israeli-made Pegasus spyware was used in Jordan to hack the cellphones of at least 30 people, including journalists, lawyers, human rights and political activists, the digital rights group Access Now said Thursday.
The hacking with spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group occurred from 2019 until last September, Access Now said in its report. It did not accuse Jordan’s government of the hacking.
One of the targets was Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for the region, Adam Coogle, who said in an interview that it was difficult to imagine who other than Jordan’s government would be interested in hacking those who were targeted.
The Jordanian government had no immediate comment on Thursday’s report.
In a 2022 report detailing a much smaller group of Pegasus victims in Jordan, digital sleuths at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab identified two operators of the spyware it said may have been agents of the Jordanian government. A year earlier, Axios reported on negotiations between Jordan’s government and NSO Group.
“We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the use of Pegasus spyware in Jordan, and that the true number of victims is likely much higher,” Access Now said. Its Middle East and North Africa director, Marwa Fatafta, said at least 30 of 35 known targeted individuals were successfully hacked.
Read More:-https://apnews.com/article/jordan-hacking-pegasus-spyware-nso-group-99b0b1e4ee256e0b4df055f926349a43
Source Credit:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/