\u00a0The secret contract was finalized on Nov. 8, 2021, a deal between a company that has acted as a front for the United States government and the American affiliate of a notorious Israeli hacking firm.<\/p>\n
Under the arrangement, the Israeli firm, NSO Group, gave the U.S. government access to one of its most powerful weapons \u2014 a geolocation tool that can covertly track mobile phones around the world without the phone user\u2019s knowledge or consent.<\/p>\n
If the veiled nature of the deal was unusual \u2014 it was signed for the front company by a businessman using a fake name \u2014 the timing was extraordinary.<\/p>\n
Only five days earlier, the Biden administration had announced it was taking action against NSO, whose hacking tools for years had been\u00a0abused by governments around the world to spy<\/a>\u00a0on political dissidents, human rights activists and journalists. The White House\u00a0placed NSO on a Commerce Department blacklist<\/a>, declaring the company a national security threat and sending the message that American companies should stop doing business with it.<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n NEW: Days after the White House in 2021 blacklisted NSO, the notorious Israeli hacking firm, a secret contract was signed for a hacking tool. The contract states that the USG is the user. A thread https:\/\/t.co\/i2PSUXq3NJ<\/a><\/p>\n — Mark Mazzetti (@MarkMazzettiNYT) April 2, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n