Amazon Web Services has banned Nso, the manufacturer of Pegasus
Amazon Web Services has banned Nso
The Israeli company used Amazon's web services, which has now blocked its accounts after the recent spyware revelations
(photo: Flickr) Amazon Web Services (Aws) has banned Nso, the Israeli company that trades the Pegasus spyware. This came one day after an investigation was published that this software would be used to target the phones of human rights activists, journalists and politicians around the world at the hands of more or less authoritarian governments. br>According to the investigation coordinated by Amnesty International Pegasus, after compromising the target phones, managed data through commercial services such as Aws and Amazon CloudFront.
Vice notes that a 2020 report already described previously the fact that Nso used Amazon services. Amnesty International reported contacting Amazon regarding Nso's business and Amazon responded by banning accounts related to the company.
“When we learned of this business, we took swift action to shut down the infrastructure and relevant accounts, ”a spokesperson for Amazon Web Services told The Verge.
Aws was not the only service of its kind used by Nso. Amnesty International's report links it to several other companies, including DigitalOcean and Linode. Nso would have preferred to use servers in Europe and the US.
Nso has always claimed to sell Pegasus to intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies to monitor terrorists and cybercriminals. What emerges from the work of Amnesty International, Forbidden Stories and 17 press outlets is quite different. The investigation claims that governments around the world have used it indiscriminately against political figures, dissidents and journalists.
Pegasus malware enters phones by exploiting security holes in services like iMessage. Once a system has been breached, Pegasus is able to collect data from the phone or activate a camera and microphone to monitor the target.
From the analyzes conducted on a sample of phones belonging to targets such as reporters from the New York Times and Associated Press , as well as two women close to the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it emerges that 37 of these smartphones contain traces of an attack or attempted attack with Pegasus. Nso responded to the allegations by calling them "full of erroneous assumptions and unconfirmed theories".
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Amazon Web Services bans accounts linked with Pegasus spyware
© Illustration by Alex Castro / The VergeAmazon Web Services (AWS) has banned NSO Group, the company behind the Pegasus spyware program. Vice reported the ban this morning, the day after a sweeping report alleged Pegasus was used to target the phones of human rights activists and journalists.
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An Amnesty International investigation into Pegasus says the tool compromised targets’ phones and routed data through commercial services like AWS and Amazon CloudFront, a move that it said “protects NSO Group from some internet scanning techniques.” (Vice notes that a 2020 report previously described NSO using Amazon services.) Amnesty International wrote that it had contacted Amazon about NSO and Amazon had responded by banning NSO-related accounts. “When we learned of this activity, we acted quickly to shut down the relevant infrastructure and accounts,” an Amazon Web Services spokesperson confirmed to The Verge.
AWS wasn’t the only service NSO apparently used. The Amnesty International report links it with several other companies, including DigitalOcean and Linode. NSO allegedly favored servers in Europe and the United States, particularly “the European data centers run by American hosting companies.” As the report describes it, NSO would deploy Pegasus malware through a series of malicious subdomains, exploiting security weaknesses on services like iMessage. Once Pegasus compromised a phone, it could collect data from the phone or activate its camera and microphone for surveillance.
NSO describes Pegasus as a tool for surveilling terrorists and cybercriminals. But yesterday’s reporting — comprising work from Amnesty International, Forbidden Stories, and 17 news outlets — says governments deployed it indiscriminately against political figures, dissidents, and journalists. That included attempting or completing attacks on 37 phones belonging to targets like New York Times and Associated Press journalists, as well as two women close to murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The NSO has objected to the reporting, calling it “full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories.”
