WASHINGTON – US authorities on Wednesday put the Israeli maker of the Pegasus spyware at the center of a scandal over surveillance of journalists and officials on a blacklist of restricted companies.
The company, NSO, was engulfed in controversy over reports that tens of thousands of human rights activists, journalists, politicians and business executives worldwide were listed as potential targets of its Pegasus software.
Smartphones infected with Pegasus are essentially turned into pocket spying devices, allowing the user to read the target’s messages, look through their…