Pegasus Project (2021)
A consortium of 17 media organizations revealed that NSO Group's Pegasus spyware had been used to hack phones of journalists, human rights lawyers, and heads of state in multiple countries. The investigation, based on a leaked list of 50,000 phone numbers, exposed the scale of commercial spyware abuse.
Governments and the European Parliament opened inquiries; Apple filed a lawsuit against NSO Group.
The US Commerce Department added NSO and Candiru to its Entity List in November 2021, restricting their access to US technology.
The Pegasus Project established the pattern of mercenary spyware being used against journalists and activists. AdFection shows the same firms finding a new delivery channel through the commercial ad ecosystem.
