FBI considered using Pegasus spyware for US domestic surveillance

A new report uncovers how Israel used the NSO Group's infamous Pegasus iPhone hacking tool, and how the FBI secretly bought it.

It has previously been reported that Israeli police have used the Pegasus spyware against its own citizens, and done so without legal oversight. Now the New York Times has released the results of a year-long investigation into the company behind the Pegasus spyware, including how the US considered using it and a more advanced tool.

According to the full report, and a New York Times summary of it, the FBI secretly bought Pegasus spyware in 2019. The NSO Group also reportedly gave the agency a demonstration of Phantom, a newer tool which was able to hack American phone numbers.

The FBI and the Justice Department then spent two years discussing whether to deploy Phantom, with the FBI only deciding against it and all NSO spyware in summer 2021.

Nonetheless, the New York Times investigation says that the Pegasus equipment is still in the FBI's possession at a New Jersey facility.

In November 2021, Apple sued the NSO Group over its Pegasus spyware. In December 2021, it was reported that the Israeli-based NSO Group was considering killing Pegasus in the face of such lawsuits and also financial pressure.

The group reportedly began deliberating the move specifically after the US Commerce Department blacklisted the company. According to the New York Times, this denies the NSO Group access to US technology it uses in its operations, such as Amazon cloud servers.

17 Comments

badmonk 1336 comments · 11 Years

About 2 years ago

Of course the FBI did. Any doubts about this? Right around the time the NSA got its iOS hacking tools leaked on-line.

Anybody still want a politically prescribed “backdoor” on your device for law enforcement now?

They have their options still. Its the cat and mouse game repeated over and over.

rob53 3312 comments · 13 Years

So the FBI secretly bought an iPhone spying tool using taxpayer money in 2019. Anyone think they still DON'T use it? The FBI's charter only deals with domestic activities. The CIA deals with non-domestic and the NSA does whatever they feel like doing. Once the FBI purchased Pegasus, all the other government agencies had access to it. I'm sure there's a way to "share" this software and I have no doubt it was used many times, and probably continues to be used.

Let's add all the government officials who are pushing to force Apple to open up its App Store along with China forcing athletes to load the "official" Olympics app. Both of these can force backdoors into a person's iPhone. Since governments can't figure out how to spy on iPhone users any other way, they are pushing, the case of the US, Congress and state's AGs to do the dirty work for them. Force Apple to open up the App Store for side loading and make them lose money by allowing third-party payment systems, something no other retailer allows.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

And the sun rises in the East every morning. Surveillance is now the lifeblood of governments so of course the FBI looked at using Pegasus. The rise of the internet has returned too much power to the individual and that’s bad for governments.

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

rob53 said:

So the FBI secretly bought an iPhone spying tool using taxpayer money in 2019. Anyone think they still DON'T use it? The FBI's charter only deals with domestic activities. The CIA deals with non-domestic and the NSA does whatever they feel like doing. Once the FBI purchased Pegasus, all the other government agencies had access to it. I'm sure there's a way to "share" this software and I have no doubt it was used many times, and probably continues to be used.

Let's add all the government officials who are pushing to force Apple to open up its App Store along with China forcing athletes to load the "official" Olympics app. Both of these can force backdoors into a person's iPhone. Since governments can't figure out how to spy on iPhone users any other way, they are pushing, the case of the US, Congress and state's AGs to do the dirty work for them. Force Apple to open up the App Store for side loading and make them lose money by allowing third-party payment systems, something no other retailer allows.

Domestic terrorists now pose a greater threat to the U.S. than do foreign terrorists.
The FBI is our primary protection from them. I'm fine with them doing what they have to do to protect us from dangerous screwballs with an agenda.

lewk 28 comments · 9 Years

GeorgeBMac said:

rob53 said:

So the FBI secretly bought an iPhone spying tool using taxpayer money in 2019. Anyone think they still DON'T use it? The FBI's charter only deals with domestic activities. The CIA deals with non-domestic and the NSA does whatever they feel like doing. Once the FBI purchased Pegasus, all the other government agencies had access to it. I'm sure there's a way to "share" this software and I have no doubt it was used many times, and probably continues to be used.

Let's add all the government officials who are pushing to force Apple to open up its App Store along with China forcing athletes to load the "official" Olympics app. Both of these can force backdoors into a person's iPhone. Since governments can't figure out how to spy on iPhone users any other way, they are pushing, the case of the US, Congress and state's AGs to do the dirty work for them. Force Apple to open up the App Store for side loading and make them lose money by allowing third-party payment systems, something no other retailer allows.

Domestic terrorists now pose a greater threat to the U.S. than do foreign terrorists.
The FBI is our primary protection from them. I'm fine with them doing what they have to do to protect us from dangerous screwballs with an agenda.

Domestic terrorists? You mean like Antifa and the others who were rioting and burning down portions of our cities? The ones destroying a lot of black and minority owned businesses?