FBI Secretly Bought Israeli Spyware Used to Track Dissidents and Explored Hacking American's Phones

Michael Levenson / The New York Times

A woman uses her phone. (photo: Getty Images)

FBI Secretly Bought Israeli Spyware Used to Track Dissidents and Explored Hacking American's Phones

Michael Levenson / The New York Times

29 january 22

Israel used the NSO Group’s software as a tool of diplomacy. The F.B.I. wanted it for domestic surveillance. Then everything soured. Here are highlights of a New York Times Magazine investigation.

It is widely regarded as the world’s most potent spyware, capable of reliably cracking the encrypted communications of iPhone and Android smartphones.

The software, Pegasus, made by an Israeli company, NSO Group, has been able to track terrorists and drug cartels. It has also been used against human rights activists, journalists and dissidents.

Now, an investigation published Friday by The New York Times Magazine has found that Israel, which controls the export of the spyware, just as it does the export of conventional weapons, has made Pegasus a key component of its national security strategy, using it to advance its interests around the world.