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Unsourced media reports last month of warrantless wiretaps by
Israeli police using Pegasus added a domestic dimension to
long-running allegations that the tool was abused by foreign
governments against reporters, rights activists and politicians.
The police have denied any wrongdoing. An inquiry appointed by
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, which consulted NSO's logs of
client surveillance targets, found the reports to be without
merit.
Shalev Hulio, co-founder and chief executive of NSO, told Tel
Aviv radio station 103 FM that Israeli police had bought "not
Pegasus, but a system called 'Saifan' - in essence, a weakened
version of Pegasus ... with lesser capabilities, fewer means of
operating".
He did not elaborate.
Israeli media have reported that the hacking tool used by police
is designed to allow real-time eavesdropping, whereas Pegasus
also provides access to past correspondence stored on cellphones.
Reuters could not independently confirm this.
Hulio said NSO had shared with the government inquiry its "audit
trail log" of Israelis targeted by police using the company's
spyware. That implicitly acknowledged that "Saifan" could hack
Israeli cellphones - something NSO has long asserted cannot be
done with Pegasus.
"Pegasus has a protective mechanism that prevents it being used
against Israeli numbers," Hulio said. "Every package ever sold
to a client abroad cannot in any way be used against Israeli
numbers. That's how Pegasus is built."
NSO says all its sales are approved by Israel's government and
are intended to prevent terrorism and crime.
"Saifan" is Hebrew for the gladiolus flower, the avocet bird or
the green swordtail fish.
(Writing by Dan Williams; editing by Jason Neely)
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