Members of the European Parliament’s committee of inquiry into Pegasus spyware, launched in April (see EUROPE 12934/6), heard on Tuesday 21 June from Chaim Gelfand, the head of compliance at the Israeli group NSO which developed the software.
But the elected representatives received few answers about the actions of European governments, such as those of Poland and Hungary, which are suspected of having used the software against political opponents or journalists, the official relying on the principle of the confidentiality of NSO‘s contracts. Chaim Gelfand only told the MEPs that five Member countries had used the company, that it had terminated its contract with at least one of these five countries and that NSO is not responsible for the practices of the end users.
He also assured that Pegasus had not been used to spy on the French president, Emmanuel Macron, or the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Mr Gelfand began by reminding the audience of the purpose of the software, which is sold only to governments and government agencies and is used to “save lives around the world” and to meet the needs of states that want to fight “terrorism or crime”. NSO’s contracts with these countries are also subject to strict obligations, with the group also giving ‘ratings’ to its clients to define the level of the rule of law.
In this respect, the manager explained that NSO had ended contracts with customers who had misused the software, for example to listen in on journalists.
A total of eight contracts have been stopped, mainly as a result of press reports, said Chaim Gelfand, who also used the hearing to counter a number of “false reports”. The NSO Group does not manage Pegasus directly or store data with “security flaws”. Nor is NSO intended for “mass surveillance with pre-identified individuals”, he defended. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)