But as one would guess, Apple would not be far behind to thwart it once again with the release of another unannounced update in the iOS 9.3.5. That company’s chief executive, Dipanjan Deb, did not return a call on Thursday. Among the things that the software of the group could do was read text messages, emails and even track calls and the contacts in devices.
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Instead of clicking on the links, Mansoor forwarded the texts to cybersecurity researchers at the Citizen Lab operated by the University of Toronto. As the iPhone platform is tightly controlled by Apple, technically sophisticated exploits are often required to enable the remote installation and operation of iPhone monitoring tools.
Citizen Lab identified Israeli “cyberwar” company NSO Group, which helps governments spy on mobile phones, as creator of the government-exclusive, “lawful intercept” Pegasus spyware. “Specifically, the products may only be used for the prevention and investigation of crimes”.
Citizen Lab, a political watchdog, reported that last August 10 Mr. Mansoor got SMS messages on his iPhone from a stranger who apparently wanted to share information about prisoners who are under torture in UAE jails.
There are awkward questions, too, for Francisco Partners, the private equity firm which owns the NSO Group.
“Ahmed Mansoor is a million-dollar human rights defender”, Scott-Railton said. Israeli and Emirati authorities did not return calls seeking comment.
“Israel is looking for allies”, Mack said. No version of the software has been exposed, indicating it remains effective.
Citizen Lab has dubbed the three exploits Trident.
It also said a Mexican journalist and a minority party politician in Kenya had been targeted with NSO software and that domain names set up for other attacks referred to entities in Uzbekistan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other nations, suggesting that other targets lived in those nations.
Mansoor had previously been targeted with software from both of those companies, according to Citizen Lab.
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“The company sells only to authorized governmental agencies, and fully complies with strict export control laws and regulations”, NSO spokesman Zamir Dahbash said in a statement.
