Day: February 15, 2024

The FBI has committed to not using Pegasus spyware in its operations, a source told Fox News, after FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers back in March the bureau did not intend to use it against U.S. persons or “for any purpose” in the future.

The FBI has come under scrutiny in recent months after it purchased a license to use the highly effective spyware program. FBI officials have insisted they did not end up using the program and had intended to only use it for research. Nevertheless, internal documents suggest they had plans to expand its use–including for tracking Americans. The FBI now tells Fox News it will drop the program.

Director Wray faced a grilling from members of Congress on the issue in hearings earlier this year, when he stated that his organization had never used to program.

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“The Director’s testimony was accurate when given and remains true today – there has been no operational use of the NSO product to support any FBI investigation,” the FBI told Fox.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, accused Wray of essentially lying – or at least fudging the truth – in testimony earlier this year. Wray was asked about the FBI’s purchase of the spyware and bureau plans to use it in criminal investigations, including tracking Americans. Wray insisted the FBI would only use Pegasus for “research,” but the New York Times soon obtained internal FBI documents indicating this was not accurate – the FBI had hoped to use Pegasus more broadly.

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Pegasus has already proven capable of infiltrating the phones of U.S. officials working overseas, something Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., highlighted in a spyware hearing this summer.

“Late last year, multiple news organizations reported that mobile phones used by U.S. diplomats in Uganda had been compromised by NASA’s Pegasus tool,” Schiff said at the time. “It is my belief that we are very likely looking at the tip of the iceberg and that other U.S. government personnel have had their devices compromised, whether by a nation state using NSA services or tools offered by one of its lesser known but equally potent competitors.”

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Experts say the spyware has legitimate uses but is also a powerful tool for authoritarian governments. Mexico used Pegasus in its effort to track down El Chapo, and Saudi Arabia also used it to track journalist Jamal Khashoggi prior to orchestrating his murder, according to cyber defense expert Jason Blessing.

• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed to have documentation that proves previous government authorities unlawfully used Pegasus spyware to target numerous hacking victims.
• Tusk made the comment during a news briefing alongside President Andrzej Duda, a political opponent.
• The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab uncovered that several Polish opponents of the previous government were subjected to Pegasus surveillance.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday that he has documentation proving that state authorities under the previous government used the powerful Pegasus spyware illegally and targeted a “very long” list of hacking victims.

Tusk made the comment during a news briefing alongside President Andrzej Duda, a political opponent. The use of Pegasus was alleged to have occurred under a government led by Law and Justice, a right-wing party with which Duda is aligned.

Tusk said he was sharing information with Duda that showed wide use of the aggressive spyware in Poland. He said he would provide Duda with a full set of documents, if he were interested.

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“I have a disclosed document at the moment, but this is only a sample of the documents that are at your disposal, Mr. President,” Tusk told Duda at the start of a meeting of the Cabinet Council, a consultation format between the president and the government.

Duda had called the meeting to discuss other matters.

Tusk took power in December following an October election which he won as the head of a broad centrist alliance. It marked the end of eight years of rule by Law and Justice, a populist party that the European Union accused of eroding democratic norms.

Duda, who holds presidential veto power and served during Law and Justice’s years in power, has at times opposed Tusk’s efforts to implement his agenda. The new parliament has set up a special commission to investigate who used Pegasus and against whom during Law and Justice’s years in government.

“The list of victims of these practices is unfortunately very long,” Tusk said.

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The prime minister said he asked the justice minister and prosecutor general to provide Duda with a set of documents which “confirm 100% the purchase and use of Pegasus in a legal and illegal manner.”

Several Polish opponents of the previous government were targeted with Pegasus, a spyware program made by Israel’s NSO Group, according to findings by the University of Toronto’s nonprofit Citizen Lab that were exclusively reported by The Associated Press.

Pegasus gives its operators complete access to a mobile device, allowing them to extract passwords, photos, messages, contacts and browsing histories, and to activate the microphone and camera for real-time eavesdropping.

NSO has said that it only sells its spyware to legitimate government law enforcement and intelligence agencies vetted by Israel’s Defense Ministry for use against terrorists and criminals. But evidence has emerged of human rights activists and politicians being targeted by governments worldwide.