NSO's notorious Pegasus spyware secretly bought by police in Germany: Reports
Israeli cyber firm NSO Group's exhibition stand at "ISDEF 2019", an international defence and homeland security expo, in Tel Aviv, Israel (file photo).
In a revelation on Tuesday, the federal government said that the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had bought notorious Pegasus spyware from the Israeli firm NSO in 2019.
In a closed-doors session, the government informed the Interior Committee of the Bundestag about the purchase, sources in the parliament said. It confirmed the earlier reports, which were published in German newspaper ‘Die Zeit’, about the matter.
According to ‘Die Zeit’, the software was procured under "the utmost secrecy". The move was taken despite the hesitations of lawyers as the surveillance tool can do much more than German privacy laws permit.
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To prevent abuse, the version purchased by the BKA had certain functions blocked, security circles told the paper. Although it is unclear how that works on a practical level.
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The revelations came after a joint research by Die Zeit as well as daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters NDR and WDR.
BKA Vice President Martina Link confirmed to lawmakers that her organisation had purchased the software, said the Süddeutsche Zeitung report.
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In 2020, the police force acquired a version of the Pegasus Trojan virus software, which was being used in select operations, concerning terrorism and organised crime since March this year.
As per Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruling, security services are only permitted to use spyware on the cellphones and computers of surveillance targets in special cases, and can only initiate certain types of operations.