NSO Spyware Linked to Phone Hacks of Journalists, Activists in El Salvador
Dozens of phones compromised in effort to control free press, rights groups say
An Israeli woman uses her iPhone in front of the offices of Israel-based NSO Group in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.
Photographer: JACK GUEZ/AFP
Human rights groups say they have identified 35 journalists and activists in El Salvador whose mobile phones were infected with spyware manufactured by the Israeli company NSO Group.
In a statement released on Wednesday, rights groups Access Now, Amnesty International and Citizen Lab said that the people targeted included employees of media groups El Faro and Gato Encerrado, in addition to employees of regional human rights and pro-democracy organizations, such as Cristosal and Fundación Democracia, Transparencia y Justicia.
A spokesperson for NSO group declined to comment on the specific allegations but said that the company provides its technology “only to vetted and legitimate intelligence agencies as well as to law enforcement agencies, who use these systems under warrants by the local judicial system to fight criminals, terrorists and corruption.”