Playing whack-a-mole with spyware isn’t going to work
News that journalists and activists from Hungary to El Salvador had been hacked by Pegasus spyware was a rude awakening. The uproar was international. The Biden administration blacklisted NSO Group, the Israeli firm that sells Pegasus. Journalists in Hungary are suing their government for allegedly targeting them. Apple is suing NSO Group for allegedly violating its user terms and services agreement. Meta, formerly Facebook, blacklisted NSO Group and several other hacking-for-hire companies.
Pegasus illustrates the need to address the international proliferation of spyware. In a market that’s highly unregulated, this won’t be as simple as punishing companies here and there.
While NSO Group deals with backlash, other companies are happy to fill authoritarians’ need for tools that will allow them to monitor and track people.
“The problem is the industry and the lack of control regulation of the industry,” said Etienne Maynier, a technologist at Amnesty International.