Moroccan intelligence insider reveals widespread use of Pegasus hacking software

The Israel-based NSO Group produces the Pegasus hacking software allegedly used to target French and Spanish politicians among others. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters View image in fullscreen The Israel-based NSO Group produces the Pegasus hacking software allegedly used to target French and Spanish politicians among others. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters Moroccan intelligence insider reveals widespread use of Pegasus hacking software Whistleblower suggests internal security services deployed spyware from 2017 against key domestic and foreign targets A former member of Morocco’s domestic intelligence service has helped to provide an unprecedented insight into how the north African state used hacking software – including Pegasus spyware – to target journalists, human rights defenders, French politicians and Spanish cabinet ministers and police officers. Pegasus, which is manufactured by the Israel-based NSO Group, allows its operator to access everything on a target’s mobile phone, including emails, text messages and photographs. It can also activate the phone’s recorder and camera, turning it into a listening device. Although NSO Group says Pegasus is sold only to governments to help them track criminals and terrorists, the spyware is alleged to have been used by several countries to target dissidents, journalists, diplomats and politicians. Morocco has long denied using Pegasus to target critics at home or abroad, and has claimed that reporters who have investigated NSO Group were “incapable of proving [the country had] any relationship” with the company. View image in fullscreen Morocco has long denied using Pegasus to target critics at home or abroad. Photograph: Fernando Astasio/Alamy However, evidence from a whistleblower who worked for Morocco’s Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST) for almost a decade suggests the country’s internal security services began using Pegasus in 2017 and went on to deploy it against domestic and foreign targets over the course of four years. Testimony from the source, known by the pseudonym of Safir, forms the basis of a multiyear investigation by the Moroccan journalist Hicham Mansouri , which has led to a collaborative investigation between several media groups, with technical support from Amnesty International’s Security Lab. The consortium, which was coordinated by Forbidden Stories and comprises 14 media organisations – including Le Monde, Haaretz, El Confidencial, Die Zeit and the Guardian – has also analysed material detailing Morocco’s surveillance practices, from leaked emails to targeting records relating to Pegasus and other spyware, and from victims’ testimony to internal training material. Two other former Moroccan intelligence agents also provided information and corroborated facts. Safir’s testimony is corroborated by leaked material, including the Pegasus project dataset, which has been forensically analysed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab. According to information gat