[[{"content_id":"360900","domain_id":"0","lang_id":"en","portal_id":"2","owner_id":"114","user_id":"44","view_accesslevel_id":"0","edit_accesslevel_id":"0","delete_accesslevel_id":"0","editor_id":"0","content_title":"NSO Pegasus spyware can no longer target UK phone numbers","content_number":"","content_date_event":"2021-10-09 09:55:23","content_summary":"Israeli maker of surveillance software blocked +44 code after detecting hack against Princess Haya, source says.","content_summary_fill":"1","content_body":"The powerful spyware used to hack into mobile phones belonging to Princess Haya and her divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton is no longer effective against UK numbers, sources familiar with the software’s developer have said, reported by the Guardian.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nNSO Group, the Israeli maker of the Pegasus surveillance tool, implemented a change preventing client countries from targeting +44 numbers, the sources said, after it became aware of the British hacking scandal on 5 August last year.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n“We shut down completely, hard-coded into the system [Pegasus], to all of our customers. We released a quick update in the middle of the night that none of our customers can work on UK numbers,” the source close to the company added.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe action was taken within hours after NSO discovered that Pegasus had probably been used by Dubai, whose ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum was locked in a child protection battle with Haya, his former wife, to hack into her phone and that of Shackleton and another of her lawyers.\r\n \r\n\r\nNotably, the company’s alarm came on the exact date an independent computer forensics researcher had spotted that Pegasus was being used against numbers linked to Shackleton’s law firm, Payne Hicks Beach. But the source said the similarity in timing was just chance: “It is a coincidence.”\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nPegasus may still be effective against numbers in other Nato countries in Europe, such as France, which pressed Israel to mount an inquiry into the use of the surveillance software, after it emerged that phone numbers belonging to President Macron and over half his cabinet were on a leaked list of people who were believed to be potential targets of interest to NSO’s government clients since 2016.\r\n \r\n\r\nPegasus spyware is sold by NSO to vetted states for use against terrorists and organised criminals. It has the power to covertly take control of a person’s phone, stealing personal data or turning on the microphone to record its surroundings – often just by sending a message to a handset.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n ","content_html":"

The powerful spyware used to hack into mobile phones belonging to Princess Haya and her divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton is no longer effective against UK numbers, sources familiar with the software’s developer have said, reported by the Guardian.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

NSO Group, the Israeli maker of the Pegasus surveillance tool, implemented a change preventing client countries from targeting +44 numbers, the sources said, after it became aware of the British hacking scandal on 5 August last year.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

“We shut down completely, hard-coded into the system [Pegasus], to all of our customers. We released a quick update in the middle of the night that none of our customers can work on UK numbers,” the source close to the company added.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The action was taken within hours after NSO discovered that Pegasus had probably been used by Dubai, whose ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum was locked in a child protection battle with Haya, his former wife, to hack into her phone and that of Shackleton and another of her lawyers.<\/span>
\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Notably, the company’s alarm came on the exact date an independent computer forensics researcher had spotted that Pegasus was being used against numbers linked to Shackleton’s law firm, Payne Hicks Beach. But the source said the similarity in timing was just chance: “It is a coincidence.”<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pegasus may still be effective against numbers in other Nato countries in Europe, such as France, which pressed Israel to mount an inquiry into the use of the surveillance software, after it emerged that phone numbers belonging to President Macron and over half his cabinet were on a leaked list of people who were believed to be potential targets of interest to NSO’s government clients since 2016.<\/span>
\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pegasus spyware is sold by NSO to vetted states for use against terrorists and organised criminals. It has the power to covertly take control of a person’s phone, stealing personal data or turning on the microphone to record its surroundings – often just by sending a message to a handset.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

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