Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 29, 2025

French Ex-Diplomat Saw "Potential For Misuse" While Working At Pegasus Maker NSO

French Ex-Diplomat Saw "Potential For Misuse" While Working At Pegasus Maker NSO

At NSO's offices, Gerard Araud discovered something resembling a classic tech start-up: teams of programmers "all between 25-30 years old, in flip-flops, black t-shirts, all with PhDs in computer science..."

Few outsiders are granted access to the ultra-secretive world of NSO Group, the Israeli maker of the Pegasus spyware at the heart of a global phone hacking scandal. Gerard Araud, a former French ambassador, is one of them.

The recently retired diplomat took a position as a consultant to NSO in 2019, advising on human rights, soon after stepping down as France's ambassador to Washington during the tumultuous years of Donald Trump's presidency.

"I took the position because I found it interesting. It was a new world for me," Araud, who also served as French ambassador to Israel in the early 2000s, told AFP by telephone.

At NSO's offices, he discovered something resembling a classic tech start-up: teams of programmers "all between 25-30 years old, in flip-flops, black t-shirts, all with PhDs in computer science..."

His one-year mission from September 2019, along with two other external consultants from the United States, was to look at how the company could improve its human rights record after a host of negative news stories.

Earlier that year, the group's technology had been linked publicly to spying or attempted spying on the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian security forces, which it denied.

The group was acquired in 2019 by a London-based private equity group, Novalpina, which hired Araud to recommend ways to make the company's safeguard procedures "more rigorous and a bit more systematic," he said.

Backdoor?


Since Monday, a consortium of media groups including The Washington Post, The Guardian and France's Le Monde newspaper have detailed allegations of how those supposed safeguards were ignored between 2016 and 2021.

Using what they say is a database of 50,000 numbers that were identified for possible hacking using Pegasus, the newspapers have detailed how human rights activists, journalists, opposition politicians and even world leaders appear on the list.

NSO Group has denied such a list exists.

Pegasus is believed to be one of the most powerful mobile phone hacking tools available, enabling clients to secretly read every message of a target, track their location, and even operate their camera and microphone remotely.

Its export is regulated "like an arms sale," said Araud, meaning NSO must seek approval from the Israeli government to sell it, and state clients then sign a lengthy commercial contract stipulating how the product will be used.

They are meant to deploy Pegasus only to tackle organised crime or terrorism -- the company markets itself this way -- but Araud said "you could see all the potential for misuse, even though the company wasn't always responsible."

Did the company have a means to check on the actual deployment of its programme, which some campaigners want banned?

Araud thinks not and said he believes the only leverage the company has after selling Pegasus is to stop offering software updates to clients if they are proven to be violating the terms of the contract.

"It's a small private company, there must be a few dozen employees. I don't think there can be any follow up," he said.

In a firm that practices "a form of extreme secrecy," he says he nonetheless became convinced that NSO Group worked with Israel's Mossad secret services, and possibly with the CIA.

He said there were three Americans who sat on the group's advisory board with links to the US intelligence agency, and the company has said that its technology cannot be used to target US-based numbers.

"There's a question about the presence of Mossad and the CIA. I thought it was both of them, but I have no proof," he said. "But I suspect they're both behind it with what you call a 'backdoor'."

A "backdoor" is a technical term meaning the security services would be able to monitor the deployment of Pegasus and possibly the intelligence gathered as a result.

Israel has denied having access to information from Pegasus.

Araud, an active user of Twitter, has faced criticism online for his decision to work for a company with alleged linked to human rights abuse.

"I have nothing to hide," he said. "I have no regrets."

Comments

ceddo 4 year ago
don't forget that gérard araud is gay and probably had a hard-on watching all these young men"between 25-30years old,in flip-flop,black t-shirts" working there at nso

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
×