A Whistleblower says the infamous Israeli spyware firm NSO Group offered a US-based mobile security company “bags of cash” in exchange for access to global cellular networks.

The FBI secretly bought Israel’s Pegasus spyware in 2019 and since then it has been using it to spy on Americans, a new investigative report says.

In a letter on Tuesday, 18 US Senate and House members asked the Treasury Department and State Department to sanction NSO, along with the UAE' cybersecurity company DarkMatter and European online bulk surveillance companies Nexa Technologies and Trovicor.

The mobile phones of at least 11 US diplomats have been hacked by the Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli cyberarms firm NSO Group.

Experts say Israeli surveillance companies and use of spyware tools should be further regulated following reports about surveillance of Palestinians and the hacking of several aid workers' phones.

This is according to an investigative report by a European rights group.

The United States has added Israel's NSO Group and Candiru to its trade blacklist after it determined the spyware makers have acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US”.

A proposed $550 million deal between the University of Cambridge and the United Arab Emirates is on hold, due to the Persian Gulf state’s use of Pegasus spying software, the university’s vice-chancellor has said.

Traces of Israeli-made Pegasus spyware have been found on the mobile phones of at least five current French cabinet ministers and a diplomatic advisor to President Emmanuel Macron, a report shows.

UN experts call for an international moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology to protect human rights following Israeli Pegasus spyware scandal.