US State Department phones hacked with Israeli spyware company NSO Group

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Phones used by US State Department employees have been hacked by an unknown assailant using spyware developed by Israel's NSO Group.

The hacks targeted Apple Inc. iPhones of at least nine US State Department employees in the last several months, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The phones affected belonged to US officials either based in Uganda or focused on matters concerning the East African country, two of the sources told Reuters.

The intrusions mark the widest known hacks of US officials using NSO spyware. Previously, a list of numbers with potential targets including some American officials was mentioned in reporting on NSO, but it was unclear whether intrusions were always tried or succeeded.

NSO Group, in a statement, said it did not have any indication their tools were used but canceled access for the relevant customers and would investigate based on the Reuters inquiry.

Following the latest intrusion, Sen. Ron Wyden, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, "Companies that enable their customers to hack US government employees are a threat to America's national security and should be treated as such."

Meanwhile, a State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the incident, instead pointing to the Commerce Department's recent decision to add NSO Group and another Israeli firm Candiru to its trade blacklist last month.

That happened after the department determined the spyware makers had acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US.”

NSO Group and another spyware firm were "added to the Entity List based on a determination that they developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used this tool to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers," the Commerce Department said in an announcement last month.

The latest measure will bar the companies from buying parts and components from American companies without a special license in addition to putting a cloud over the sale of their software globally, including in the US.

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