The newspaper, which did not disclose its sources, said
Mexico, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates were among
countries which would now be barred from importing Israeli cyber tech. The list
of countries licensed to buy it had been cut to just 37 states, down from 102.
Israel's Defence Ministry, responding to the report, said in
a statement it takes "appropriate steps" when terms of usage set in
export licenses it issues are violated, but stopped short of confirming any
licenses had been revoked.
Israel has been under pressure to rein in exports of spyware
since July, when a group of international news organisations reported that
NSO's Pegasus tool had been used to hack into phones of journalists, government
officials, and rights activists in several countries.
Those reports prompted Israel to review the cyber export
policy administered by the Defence Ministry.
Morocco and the UAE, which both normalised relations with
Israel last year, as well as Saudi Arabia and Mexico were among countries where
Pegasus has been linked to political surveillance, according to Amnesty
International and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab which studies surveillance.
NSO has denied any wrongdoing, saying it sells its tools
only to governments and law enforcement agencies and has safeguards in place to
prevent misuse.
Earlier this month, US officials placed NSO on a trade
blacklist or selling spyware to governments that misused it. The company said
it was dismayed by the decision, since its technologies "support US
national security interests and policies by preventing terrorism and crime".
NSO has also faced lawsuits and criticism from big tech
firms who accuse it of exposing their customers to hacking. Apple Inc was the
latest to sue NSO this week.
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