A Moroccan intelligence insider has helped expose the scale and reach of the country’s use of Pegasus spyware. The advanced Israeli-made technology hacks into smartphones allowing spies to eavesdrop on and manipulate the devices.
The former agent said Pegasus was used to spy on journalists, activists and foreign officials from Spain and France.
As the Guardian has it:
Pegasus, which is manufactured by the Israel-based NSO Group, allows its operator to access everything on a target’s mobile phone, including emails, text messages and photographs.
It can also activate the phone’s recorder and camera, turning it into a listening device.
Morocco claims it uses the technology, arguing:
that reporters who have investigated NSO Group were “incapable of proving [the country had] any relationship” with the company.
The whistleblower, known as Safir, has offered key insights into the work of the Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST), Morocco’s internal security agency. Safir, who spent a decade in the agency, claims:
the country’s internal security services began using Pegasus in 2017 and went on to deploy it against domestic and foreign targets over the course of four years.
The result is a multi-year investigation across several news outlets as well as Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Le Monde, Haaretz, El Confidencial, Die Zeit and the Guardian all worked on the investigation.
analysed material detailing Morocco’s...
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