VIDEO: A Global Consortium Investigates the Use of Pegasus Spyware

A powerful hacking tool called Pegasus, sold to governments around the world by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, has been used to spy on journalists, human rights activists, the fiancée of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and others, according to a months-long investigation by 17 news organizations, including FRONTLINE.

The investigation of the spyware was coordinated by the journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories, with technical support from Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Forbidden Stories and Amnesty had access to a leak of more than 50,000 records of phone numbers concentrated in countries known to be NSO clients. NSO has disputed the findings of the reporting and said it will investigate all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action.

FRONTLINE is producing a documentary with Forbidden Stories.